The Rebel VS The Controler
by Doubt But Never Regret
Summary: Stella and her family are spending the summer at a resort but after a near death experiance in which Ray saves Stella, will they learn to LOVE each other or is the fact that Ray is being nice all a big prank to hurt Stella?
1. Being saved

**I DO NOT OWN LEMONADE MOUTH!**

STELLA POV:

"Stella we're heading down to the Pool? Are you going to come with?" I turn to see my Mother in her one piece swim suit.

"Yeah, I'll be ready in a bit." I answer and head towards my suitcase.

This summer the band had decided to spend the break with family. So instead of staying home or packing to move like we usually do, my parents had decided to bring my brothers and I to a resort somewhere in the suburbs.

After putting on my swim suit I walked to the living room of the medium sized room where we were staying.

"Let's go!" my brothers screamed eagerly and ran past me to the front door. I followed with a smile as they led us to the big Pool. It was decorated with big rocks and waterfalls to make you feel as if you were in some paradise rather than at a pool. I took a seat at one of the pool bed things and slipped on my sun glasses. I had spent so much time in doors this past year that I has started to pale. I felt the hot sun beat down on my skin and smiled at the feeling.

"Stella we're going in. are you coming?" I shake my head when my dad asks and sigh as they walk away. Before long the sound of people around me fades into the background and I relax. With my eyes closed I slowly start to doze off…that is until someone blocked the sun rays that were hitting me.

"Um…excuse me?" I say politely as I sit up slightly and take my glasses off.

"Can I help you Miss?" I could tell by the polo shirt that this guy worked here. That and he had called me 'Miss.'

"Yeah could you please move? You're kind of blocking the sun." I say as he places a glass on the table in front of an elderly woman. His back was to me but I could see his blondish hair. By the way his hair was made I knew he wasn't the pretty boy type.

"My apologies. Would you like anything from the Food Stand?" he asks and turns. I feel myself go rigid when I see who it is.

"Ray? Ray Beech?" I ask in disbelief. I see him roll his eyes and sigh.

"Well well well if it isn't the Leader of the Lemon Heads." He says and crosses his arms.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you read the sign at the door? No animals inside the resort." I say and smirk when his face turns a bright red.

"Watch yourself Yamada. I may need a job but I am not afraid to get fired." He says and glares.

"Whatever Pool Boy. Can I get a glass of Iced Tea?" I say and cross my arms.

"Get it yourself Yamada!" he says as his face returns to its usual color.

"Mr. Beech! Is that any way to talk to our residents?" I look up to see a middle aged man in a suit. I'm guessing he's the manager.

"What I meant to say was…how many teaspoons of Sugar ?" Ray says through clenched teeth as the man looks down at him with judgfull eyes.

"I will be sure to tell your uncle about the disrespect that you've shown Mr. Beech." the man says and walks away.

"Two will be fine." I say before slipping my sunglasses on and lying back down.

"I'll bring you your drink right away." He says through a forced smile. I chuckle under my breath and watch him leave, thankful that the lenses are too dark for him to even notice I'm watching him.

"Stella are you even gonna get wet?" I snap out of my trance when I hear my mom sit in the chair next to me.

"Mom you know I can't swim." I grumble and cross my arms with embarrassment. It isn't that I've never tried it's just that I've never learned. My father had tried to teach my numerous times but every time I'd fail and be too scared to even go near the water again.

"Well maybe you can just stay on the shallow end." My mom says and starts to dry herself off.

"I'd like to just stay out here." I say and close my eyes.

"Okay. Would you mind going up to our room and getting some sunscreen?" she asks.

"sure." I mumble and stand up. She hands me the key and I start to walk back towards the pool gates.

Suddenly I feel something slam into my side and next thing I know I'm flying through the air. I feel my back connect with something hard before I start sinking. My arms and legs start flail wildly as I try to keep my head above the water. I can hear screaming but I ignore everything and just focus on moving and trying not to sink.

RAY'S POV:

I let out a sigh as I fill up a plastic cup with Iced Tea and add sugar.

"What going on over there?" I turn when Mike points to the pool.

"Who knows? Let Joey take care of it, he's the lifeguard." I say and leave the stand to head towards Little Miss Rebellion. That's when I see what's going on. A girl, she was in the deepest part of the pool, flailing to stay above the water; she couldn't swim. I look around and groan when I see Joey with his back to all this as he flirts with a few girls. Then I hear the girls' screaming. I recognized it immediately; it was Stella. Acting on impulse I dropped the cup and ran to where she was.

"Where's the life guard?" I heard someone scream. As quickly as I could, I kicked off my shoes and socks before jumping into the water. I have no idea how she got to the middle of the deep end put I had to swim quickly in order to get to her.

"Stella calm down! I've got you!" I have to scream just to get her attention. Her arms hit my chest and she calms down almost immediately after I wraps my arm around her waist and pull her to me. Her legs wrap themselves around my waists tightly as I swim slowly to the edge.

"Stella, you have to let go for a bit." I say through chattering teeth when she doesn't let me pull her off to get her out of the water.

"n-no! You'll l-let me drown!" she says. I can feel her shaking violently with terror. I sigh and slowly move both of our bodies out of the water. When I stand up I can see that everyone had stopped to watch what I had just done.

"Don't worry. I got here. Resume Pool activity." I say loudly before starting to walk towards the infirmary.

"Stella!" I turn to see a woman, a man, and two small boys running over to me and Stella. I'm guessing that they're her family.

Looking down, I noticed that Stella had her face buried in my shoulder with her arms wrapped tightly around my neck and her legs around my waist. I felt relieved that she was okay but a little disgusted that she was so close to me.

"she needs to go to the doctor." I say as he father takes her from me. she doesn't complain as he wraps a towel around her and hugs her protectively.

"Mr. Beech!" I wince at the sound of Mr. Miller's harsh voice.

"Thank you so much." Her mother says before walking away with the rest of her family in tow.

"You're welcome." I mumble and turn to face .

"first you steal a golf kart to go on a joy ride, then you disrespect a guest, and now you throw yourself into a pool and do someone else's job. You should be fired by now in my opinion Mr. Beech. But because your uncle is the owner of this resort…I have no say. I will be sure to pay him a visit and discuss with him your…issues. Now go wash up and head down to the café. Your pool shift ended three minutes ago and you're due to start your job as a waiter in half an hour." He says before walking away. God I hated that guy, he thought that just because Uncle Devon gave him a job he's assistant owner of this place.

Silently I walk to the employee locker room and strip out of my now ruined pool uniform. I hit the showers and use up as much time as I can before walking out and drying off.

"That was a stupid stunt you pulled Beech." I turn to see Mark- another worker here- walking in.

"Yeah, I know that now." I say and start changing into the black pants and button that were the Lovely Lady's Café uniform.

"why'd you di it? If you would've let her be Joey would have been fired." He says.

"yeah and Stella would have died." I snap back.

"Stella? Wait wait wait… you saved that girl because you like her didn't you." He says and chuckles.

"Don't be disgusting. Stella is the signal most annoying, rude, and…most unattractive person I've ever seen." I say and put on my shoes.

"Yeah right. She was _hot._ With a capital H." he says and chuckles.

"You like her? You can have her. I don't care."

"If you say so. Good luck at the Café." He says as I walk out.

***One Week Later***

STELLA POV:

After the pool incident, I had to stay in bed for a while for some reason. Yesterday was the first day that I was allowed to roam the resort. Today I decided that I was going to the Library. This place was huge. It had multiple restaurants, three pools, a gift shop, an arcade, a library, and a book store!

"Stella, are you sure you don't want to come?" my mother asks again.

"Yeah mom, I'm sure." I say and smile reassuringly.

"Okay, if you say so. We'll be back later." She says and walks away. I hear the front door close and sigh before leaving the room a few minutes after.

RAY POV:

I hated Saturdays! While every other normal teenager spent their Saturdays sleeping in, or hanging out with friends, I had to wake up at Five AM and spend my entire day in this Gift Shop! No one even comes here!

"I'm gonna go on my Lunch Break." I nod when Mark mumbles out the sentence and walks out. I have spent the last eight hours in this tiny shop and was still two hours away from my Lunch Break. I could hear the sound of people outside of those glass doors going to the arcade, restaurants, library, basically anywhere other than here. I sigh and lay my head on the counter top, maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to catch up on sleep.

"WAKE UP!" I jump when the silence is interrupted by the loud voice that just yelled in my ear.

"I wasn't sleeping Moron!" I scream angrily and look up.

There I see Stella on the floor laughing. Her shoulders shake as her face turns bright red and then purple as she laughs.

"Very funny Yamada." I say and try to ignore the ringing in my right ear.

"That was hilarious! Oh come on Ray you can't say that if it wasn't you I had done it too you'd be laughing too!" she says when she stands up.

"That's not the point. What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?" I snap before turning red. _Yeah very busy, standing in an empty room while waiting for a customer._

"yeah this place is just over flowing with invisible people wanting to buy merchandise." She say with a cocky smile.

"They're invisible to losers like you. Only actual talented people like yours truly can see them." I say before cracking a smile.

"That was so funny I forgot to laugh."

"What are you in the Seventh grade? You can come up with a better comeback than that Yamada." I say and chuckle when she punches my shoulder lightly.

"Oh shut up." She say before hoping up onto the counter.

That's when an idea hits me. pay back is sweet!

"Hey hey hey! That's for merchandise on your butt!" I say before wrapping my arms around her waist from behind and yanking her backwards.

"Ray no!" she screams before we're both collapsing into the mountain of stuffed animals behind the counter. I manage to get her under me somehow so that I'm pinning her down when we hit the ground.

"Now I'm gonna have to polish that wood all over again!" I scream with fake anger. I can tell she actually believes me by the way her eyes widen. "You're gonna pay for that Yamada." I say and smirk evilly.

"What are you talking about?" she screams back. Then I let go of her wrists and move so that my fingers start to tickle to her stomach and sides.

"Say Uncle Yamada!" I say and laugh when she starts squirming and laughing.

"Stop! Stop it!" she screams between laughs.

"Say Uncle!" I say as my fingers keep moving.

"Ray!"

"Say it Stella!"

"Un- uncle!" she gasps out. I chuckles and move my fingers away so that my hands land on either side of her head.

"Good. I win." I say and watch as she gasps for air.

"Cheater!" she says and smiles up at me.

"I didn't say I played fair."

"I should have known from the start."

"Yes, yes you should have."

"Whatever, can I get up now?" she says and gently places her hands on my chest before pushing me. I roll off of her and stand up.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I ask and help her up.

"I came to look around." She says and hops on the counter. I let her be this time and take a seat on my stool.

"You came to look around or did you come to look at me?" I ask and wriggle my eye brows at her. She rolls her eyes and hops off of the counter to land on the other side.

"In your dreams Beech."

"Whatever you say."

"You are such a dork you know that?" she laughs softly and heads towards the back of the store.

"I'm not a dork!" I say and watch as she looks around.

"Yes you are. Do you have book marks?" she looks up from the post cards with a smile; a _real_ smile.

"Right here." I say and pull out a box filled with laminated strips of paper.

"thanks." She mumbles and looks through them. "I thought you worked as a Pool Boy." She says and takes a few out.

"I switch to where I'm needed. I never stay at one place for too long." I explain.

"Thanks Ray…for what you did at the Pool." She mumbles and looks up through her eyelashes.

"No big deal." I answer and take the few that she had placed on the counter to ring them up.

"Yes it is. You saved me from drowning."

"Really Stella, it's no big deal. Let it go, please."

"Did you just please?" she asks and raises one of her eyebrows.

"I can be nice if I wanted to Yamada." I say and smirk before pacing her bookmarks into a paper bag.

"That's hard to believe. I've had the privilege to deal with your for a little over eight months and not once, before have you been kind." She says and hands me some money.

"Well maybe I can show you how nice I can be over Dinner?" I say and smirk when her eyes widen.

"Excuse me?" she says and crosses her arms.

"You heard me."

"Yeah I heard you loud and clear but do you actually think that I'll say yes to that?"

"It's an open invite."

"That's not an invite at all."

"Alright then how would you like me to ask Stella?"

"Politely."

"I don't do the whole noble knight stuff Stella."

"And I don't do the whole princess in distress thing." She says and takes the bag from me.

"Fine…Would you Stella like to come with me to Dinner at The Lovely Lady's Cafe tonight?" I smiled slightly at the look of utter surprise on her face.

"I didn't actually think you were serious about this." She mumbles.

"Yes or no Stella?" I ask and hand her her change.

"This isn't a joke? You aren't going to stand me up or something?" she asks.

"This isn't a joke Stella. If you want you can come pick me up so that you know I won't stand you up."

"Okay. Pick you up at Seven." She says with a smile and starts walking out.

"Wait!" I say and frown. She turns and smiles slightly at me.

"What?"

"So that's a yes right?"

"That's a yes Ray."

"How are you gonna pick me up if you don't know where I live?" I ask and raise an eyebrow. I see her cheeks turn a bright red before she walks back to the counter.

"Where am I picking you up?"

"Here." I say and scribble my Address on her receipt quickly.

"Thanks." She mumbles before walking out. I watch her through the glass windows as she walks away. What can I say? I like the whole 'Rebellion' attitude she has. And the fact that she has a cute smile helps too.

STELLA POV:

I could feel my cheeks were on fire! I was supposed to hate him right? But I couldn't, not anymore at least. This wasn't the jerk that I went to school with or the guy that I couldn't stand. This was a different Ray, the one that's fun to be around, and can make me laugh, and makes me blush violently. Why hadn't I ever noticed the way his hair is darker on the back of his head than it is on the front? Or the way his blue eyes twinkle when she's holding back a laugh, or the way the right side of his mouth twitches right before he chuckles?

URG! Snap out of it Stella! This is Ray Beech we're talking about! He spread a rumor that you had a two-some with Charlie and Wen! He made you trip and fall right into the bucket of mop water a few feet away from him; he wants to ruin Lemonade Mouth's fame! He's rude and obnoxious, and mean! Why are you drooling all over him? You are supposed to hate him! This is all a big prank to get you to fall for him or something. Well I'll show him. I'll make him wish that he never messed with me. Ray Beech, get ready for what's coming your way.

**Okay, so I've wanted to start this story for a while now but I've never had the nerve to do it. I really need some help. This chapter didn't really come out the way I planned it. Frankly I think it could be better. I know there are a lot of grammar mistakes and I apologize for that! I need a Beta so if anyone is interested, please say so! Do you think I should keep going or just stop? Was it good, bad awesome, or horrible? Please review! : )**


	2. Disasters and Texts?

**Okay, so thanks to those of you that reviewed! And to those of you that didn't…why? I don't own anything from Lemonade Mouth, if I did there would be a sequel with a lot of Ray and Stella romance going on along with Ray joining the band as a backup singer : ) enjoy the chapter!**

RAY POV:

Blue or white? Slacks or jeans? Moose or gel? Urg! Why was I acting like such a girl? She isn't Julie Knight! This is Stella Yamada! Why am I freaking out so much! White shirt, Black slacks, and moose. There…wait…maybe blue would look better. No! Stick with the first choice Ray, you're over thinking this. Besides she'll probably just be wearing one of those handmade T-shirts or something.

"Ray come on! You've been in there for over an hour!" I glare at the door as the sound of my younger sisters voice sounds through the room.

"Wait your turn Steph!" I yell and run my moose covered fingers through my hair.

"I have been waiting my turn! Your time is up!"

"Wait just a few more minutes!" I yell and start buttoning up the buttons to my freshly ironed shirt. I really have no idea why I'm making such a big fuss over this. I mean I've dated the head cheerleader, captain to the girls soccer team, student council president, even Scott's sister! For each one of those dates I was so calm! But when it comes to this…Lemon head, I'm a complete mess!

"Ray there's a girl here for you!" I groan loudly and slip on my pants and shoes before running over to my room and grabbing my wallet.

"Coming!" I scream out and slip it into my back pocket along with a small box of Tic-Tacs. You can never be _too_ prepared.

"We're in the kitchen!" I hear my mother call out when I get to the living room and don't see anyone. I walk in and immediately freeze. Stella was defiantly NOT wearing a homemade T-shirt.

She was wearing a dark blue summer dress. There were ruffles running from the top of her dress to her waist allowing the dress to hug her body nicely. I had seen Stella in everything except a dress or skirt; all these months I had thought it was because they wouldn't do her any justice but now I could see…they did her _plenty_ of justice.

"Ray?" I snapped out of my awed trance when my mother shouted my name impatiently.

"I'm sorry what?" I asked as I tore my gaze away from Stella and set it on my mother.

"Doesn't Stella look nice?" she asks as if she had already asked and was repeating herself.

"Yes. _Very_ nice." I say and give Stella what I had heard girls call my 'Charming Grin'.

"Thanks. You look nice as well." She says and gives me a smile.

"Well, don't be out too long." My mother says before walking upstairs.

"Come on, we don't want to get there too late, I hear it gets pretty full after seven." She says and takes a step towards me. Her toned legs looked amazingly smooth with her black flats.

"Yeah. Right." I say and take her hand gently before pulling her outside. When we stepped outside I noticed that there wasn't a car in the driveway that wasn't owned by my family.

"We're using my car I see." I say and pull her towards my Volvo.

"Sorry, my parents were going out tonight as well." She mumbles as her cheeks turn a bright red.

"That's okay, now you don't have to drive all over the place." I say and open her door.

"Very true. Thanks." She says and lets my hand go to step inside. I walk over to my side and get in eagerly. I felt the butterflies that I had never gotten before flap their wings against my stomach.

"Can I ask you something?" I snapped out of my eagerly happy state when Stella's soft voice penetrated the silence.

"sure." I say and stop at a red light.

"Is there a reason only half of your hair has something in it?" she asks before running her ingers through my hair.

"What are you talking about?" I ask and frown.

"Half of your head is all soft and glossy while the other half is dry and…very messy." She says and chuckles. I quickly look at myself in the rearview mirror and groan loudly. She was right. The entire left side of my hair was sticking out messily while the other side was disheveled in its usual way.

"Great. I look like a crazy person!" I say and run my hand through my hair to try to tame the wild locks.

"just drive, I'll fix it in a minute." She says and chuckles again. I follow orders and continue the drive to the resort when the light turns green. How could I be so stupid?

STELLA POV:

I held in my laughter and smiles when we got into the parking lot of the resort.

"Look this way and hold still." I say to him as I pull out my travel sized moose bottle form my bag.

"What is that?" he asks and turns his head to me.

"moose." I say and put some into the palm of my hand.

"you carry around moose?"

"It's for emergencies!" I say before running my fingers through his untamed hair. I had always thought that he never put anything in his hair but now I realized that he desperately needed some sort of hold so that it didn't go crazy.

"there." I say and smile. Now it looked normal again.

"Thanks Stella, I owe you big time.

"Don't worry about it." I say and wipe my hand on a tissue.

"What _don't _you have in there?" he asks and smiles.

"Oh shut up." I say and step out of the car as my cheeks turn red. I walk with him to the Café and we take our seats in a booth.

"So what would are getting?" he asks and flips through the menu. I had been here once before and I already knew what I wanted.

"Um…I think I'll get the Fettuccini." I say and look at him through my eye lashes.

"You should take a picture." he says and smiles up at me. "It'll last a lot longer."

"Funny. Very funny." I say and roll my eyes to hide my blush.

I was very pleased with myself. I had seen the way he had froze in his kitchen when he saw me, the way he kept glancing at me every few seconds in the car, and how he's looking at me right now while I pretend to look out the window with intense interest. I had purposefully made myself as pretty as I could so that he would not have the upper hand tonight, just in case it was all a prank.

"Beech!" I look up to see a fairly tall guy standing in front of our table.

"Mark. What are you doing here?" I glance over to see Ray's eyes are big with what looks like sock and humiliation.

"I thought you said she was the signal most Unattractive thing you've ever seen dude!" I feel my body go rigid.

"Mark!" my eyes flash to Ray as he stares at me wide eyed.

"Oh yeah, dude what are you talking about she isn't ugly like you said."

"Mark!" I jump slightly at the volume of Ray's voice. "What are you doing? Go away!"

"no. Mark you should stay. It looks like Ray is going to be having dinner for one. wouldn't want him to get lonely." With that I stand up and walk away, proud that I didn't let the emotions that were bubbling up inside of me show.

"Stella!"

I walk faster when I hear him call out my name and thank God when I'm able to slip into an elevator just as the doors shut. I press the button with the big number 7 on it and close my eyes to stop the tears that threaten to flow out of my eyes. I knew that this was all a big stunt…but I still hoped that he had actually wanted to be with me. When the doors open and walk out slowly and trudge towards room number 387.

"Stella!" I jump when a hand catches my wrist and yanks me towards them. "Stella you can't seriously believe a thing he said!" I look up to see Ray's blue eyes looking down at me with panic and shock.

"Why shouldn't I Ray? After all you're the guy that makes fun of me and the rest of Lemonade Mouth! You're the one that just loves to humiliate me and spread rumors about us! You love to talk bad about every single one of us! Why should I believe that you called me ugly? You've said it to Olivia in front of the entire school! You went on the morning announcements and called Mo a slut! Why should I believe you even for a second?" I feel something wet slide down my cheeks as my anger bubbles up until I'm seething and practically steaming.

"I know that I did all that stuff okay? But what about all the good stuff I did?" he asks and looks around quickly.

"_Stuff_? More like good _thing_ Ray! I should have known from the very start of this that you were still that annoying jerk! I have no idea why I ever thought otherwise!"

"Stella hush! You're causing attention! Just calm down!"

"No! I'm not one of your bimbos. I don't follow your orders or praise the ground you walk on. So I suggest that unless you want a bruised eye to go with your ego, I suggest you get out of my way." I tried not to raise my voice but by the time if was finished I was sure that even the people on the floor below could hear me.

"Stella will you just hear me out?"

With that I pulled back my fist and let it snap forward. A proud smile worked its way across my mouth when I felt him give way under my blow. He didn't collapse but he did stumble back. I noticed that he held his hand to his temple rather than his eyes but didn't stay long enough to figure out why. I walked around him and escaped as quickly as I could.

RAY POV:

I had felt her ring slice through my skin like a knife through butter as winced as pain erupted through my face. Is it weird that the fact that she can probably kick my but easily makes me like her even more? I watched as she walked away before sighing and heading towards the elevator. Unless I wanted a busted lip to math my current injuries I think it's best that I let her cool down and talk to her on Monday, if she doesn't run as soon as she sees me. Slowly I make my way to the parking lot and trudge through the light rain that had just started.

"Whoa!" I glare at the floor when I hear Mark running towards me.

"If I were you I'd keep away Mark." I say angrily and take out the keys to my car.

"She did this to you?" he asks and walks over so that he's right beside me.

"You have three seconds." I mutter out and clench my right hand into a tight fist.

"What?"

I let my arm snap forward quickly to catch his cheekbone. He drops onto the gravel of the parking lot as his hand clutches at the side of his face.

"That one's for ruining my date. And this one's for making her ruin my face!" I growl out and pull my foot back before launching it forward.

"Ah!" I hear him gasp when the wind's knocked out of him and walk away satisfied. The drive home seems to take forever as I constantly have to stop at red lights. I thought the suburbs were supposed to have no traffic.

_Your busted up club, it was doomed from the start  
>Don't even try it, we're state of the art<br>When we break the rules, they bend for us  
>When they need the job done, they send for us<em>

Brand new kicks and a brand new jersey  
>What do you expect, yeah we deserve it<br>Three-point shot, no time on the clock  
>And the crowd goes wild, are you ready or not?<p>

I feel my phone vibrate violently in my pocket as Mudslide Crush's anthem plays loudly.

"Yeah?" I answer impatiently.

"Ray." I sigh in frustration when I hear Scott's voice.

"I'm not in the mood for one of your pathetic apologies Scott. If you're calling to say sorry just hang up I really don't care anymore if it's something else make it quick I'm not in a good mood" I snap and zoom off when the light turns green.

"Is it true Mudslide Crush Is breaking up?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? It's your band how do you not know?"

"Well let's see, our guitarists quit to help his girlfriend, our drummer left for collage, and our base player moved to the other side of the world! Now it's just me and Ben! A singer and a back up guitarist. Yeah like that's gonna be successful!" I say and turn onto my street.

"Look I had a good reason to leave and so did everyone else! Why can't you just replace us?"

"Because everyone else in this stupid town sucks! And your reason was to help a bunch of losers Scott! That isn't a good reason at all!" I yell out and hang up angrily. I walk into the house and walk upstairs as quietly as I can. When I get into my room I feel my phone vibrate again and reluctantly take it out of my pocket. I had a new TXT.

_Stay away from her if you know what's good for you._

I frowned down at the unknown callers' message.

Who is this?

I typed back and almost immediately got a response.

_Them, us, and yours truly. Just stay away from our Stella. We've worked too hard to just watch you trick her into falling for you. _

What are you talking about?

_Just stay away. She can easily add to those fresh flaws on your face._

This time I don't respond. I take the battery out of my phone and set it down on my desk before walking towards my closet. Who could it…or they be? The only people that I've ever seen with Stella are the rest of the Lemonade Tongues and they'd never be smart or devious enough to think of this. Not unless Stella helped them think of it anyway.

Mark was out of the picture too, no one even likes him. Joey doesn't know her and neither does anyone else that works at the Resort.

With a sigh I change into some sweats and remove the now blood stained shirt before getting into bed. The thin sheets molded onto my bare stomach and arms while my pants allowed the rest of the sheets to lie loosely around the rest of my body.

That second to last answer kept replaying in my head over and over. Who could have sent those Texts?

**Okay so that's the end of that chapter! : ) hope you enjoyed it! I need help now. Who do you think should have sent those Texts? Please review and include your response! Here are your choices:**

**1) Charlie.**

**2) Mo**

**3 ) A boy that's had a crush on Stella for a while**

**4) other. (if so who do you think?)**


	3. Black mail and brilliant ideas

**You all know that I don't own Lemonade Mouth, but I'm going to tell you anyway, but to shake it up a bit, I have a guest star to tell you that I don't own LM:**

**Ray: DBNR doesn't own Lemonade Mouth, or anything else concerning things that she does not have legal ownership of. She is only the owner of this fantasy that you all seem to love. Enjpy the chapter, though I don't think it'll be possible since I won't be in it. Thank you and make sure to keep reading the rest of this sure to be awesome FanFic.**

**ME: Ta-Da! : D **

OLIVIA POV:

"Has she answered you?" I shake my head at Mo's question as we walk into Charlie's garage.

"Hey, what's the super important emergency?" I blush when Scott, Charlie, and Wen look up at us with worry and anger. It was two AM on a Sunday after all. I would be pretty upset too if I had to wake up this early.

"You guys might want to sit down for this news." Mo says and goes to sit next to her boyfriend.

"Wait; if this is a band meeting shouldn't we wait for Stella?" I sigh and sit between Charlie and Wen.

"Dude, this meeting is _about_ Stella. Didn't you read the entire text?" Wen says and frowns.

"It was one AM when I got it! I fell asleep before I even got halfway through!" he says and yawns to make his point.

"Anyway, back to the subject at hand." I look over to see Mo looking at the floor with a deep frown.

"Yeah you guys listen up." She says before looking up. "Last night Olivia and I went to pay Stella a little visit…only to see something very disturbing."

"What did you two see?" I sigh before answering Charlie's question.

"Stella was on a date…"

"Okay why is that disturbing? She met a guy while on vacation so what?" I look over to see Mo glaring at Scott.

"She wasn't finished Scott." She says and looks back at me.

"She was on a date with…Ray Beech." I say and watch as the guys go from tired and annoted to shocked and furious.

"She was what?" Charlie screams and bolts up. Ever since Ray started spreading rumors and pulling pranks on Stella, Charlie has become like her over protective older brother.

"Calm down bro." Wen says and rubs the sleep out of his eyes. "How do you guys even know it was a date?"

"well, he was wearing nice clothes and she was wearing a dress…a really pretty dress. And she was blushing while he was smirking at her. Call me crazy but that looked like a date to me!" Mo says and crosses her arms.

"But it went real bad real soon. Out of nowhere they go from blushing and flirty to angry and aggressive. She just gets up and stomps away. So we follow them and as soon as we find them we see Stella punch Ray." I finish and sigh.

"Wait, Stella punched Ray?" Scott asks with a big smile.

"Yes…guys we need to keep him away from Stella. I mean this is obviously a trick!" Mo says.

"Yeah, it's probably just a prank. A cruel joke." Charlie mumbles and sits back down with a frown on his face.

"It'd make sense I mean he's been bagging on her since he met her. And it isn't the type of stuff that little kids do to hide a crush but the real thing. I mean he hates her." Scott says and wraps his arm around Mo.

"How do you know?" Wen asks.

"As soon as you guys showed up, most of Mudslide Crush's rehearsals were filled with the guys trying to get Ray to admit that he had a crush on her but as soon as they'd start he'd go and start lashing out. Calling her names, making fun of her, and then going and saying everything to her face. He gets mad whenever anyone talks about her. Before she showed up…no one even got in his path in the halls. He was in charge of the school but now…well he has some competition."

"Yeah that's true. I mean I remember when everyone would jump out of his way and now…he isn't so important anymore. Even Principal Branigan started to pay more attention to Stella than to him." I say softly.

"So how do we get him to stay away from her?" Charlie asks. I notice an evil smile form on Mo's lips and frown.

"Mo? What do you have in mind?" I ask.

"Charlie, hand me your phone." She says and walks over.

"My phone? For what?"

"Blackmail…Stella's rubbing off on me." she answers as Charlie hands over his phone.

"oh…blackmail huh? I like it." Wen says and smiles.

"Scott what's Ray's number?"

MO POV:

We waited for him to answer the last text but looked up from Charlie's phone when Scotts sighed loudly.

"He isn't going to answer." He mumbles and rubs his eyes.

"Yeah neither is Stella. I tried calling her, texting her, everything.

"well, I'm going home. It's late and I'm tired, if either one of them answers, text me." Wen says before standing up and grabbing his jacket before leaving.

"Yeah, I'm leaving too. Good morning" Olivia says and follows him out.

"Guys, can we do this tomorrow? I'm exhausted." Charlie says and yawns.

"fine." I mumble and stand up.

"I'll drive you home." I nod and head to Scott's car.

"Good night." I say as Charlie gets up and shuts the garage door. He waves sleepily before shutting off the lights and going inside.

"Why would Stella ever even say yes to a date with Ray anyway?" I mumbles as Scott gets in and turns the car on.

"Well maybe, she has a trick or two up her sleeve as well." He answers and takes my hand. "Mo, Stella's a strong girl she can take care of herself. She doesn't need us to blackmail Ray for her, she could have done it all on her own." He says and pulls out of Charlie's driveway.

"I guess you're right but…we still need to protect her. I mean she's like a sister to us." I say softly. I see him nod and sigh.

STELLA POV:

This morning, I woke up to find my phone vibrating violently with missed calls and texts. When I had looked through everything I noticed that everything was from Mo and Olivia.

"Mom, is it okay if I head back into town? I want to see the guys." I say during breakfast.

"Oh, well…I guess it won't be a problem." She says as she sits down.

"Just be back here by six, we were planning on going out for a family dinner." My father says with a smile. I nod and eat quickly before getting ready.

On the way back to town I notice a lot of orange posters plastered in street signs and buildings. By the way they seemed to be taking every available inch of room on the building walls I was guessing they were posters for the summer festival. Wen says that every year the community plasters every building and post with posters in hopes to get some entertainment. I had signed us up this year since they didn't have any band at all booked. I was surprised when I hear that Ray hadn't signed his band up but I guess he thought that the festival wasn't good enough for his group of talentless monkeys.

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and quickly took it out.

"Hey Olivia." I answer and smile.

"Hey Stella, could you come to Charlie's? we need to have a band meeting ASAP." She says worriedly.

"I'll be there in about three minutes." I answer and turn onto Charlie's street.

"Wow. Thanks." She says before hanging up. I put my phone back in my pocket just as I turn into Charlie's driveway. I can see the rest of the band through the clear Garage door.

"Hey Stella!" I hear Charlie call out as I get out of the car. I wave and wait for him to open the big odor before walking in.

"Hey Charlie." I say and smile.

"So is there a reason you were so close?" Mo asks with a big smile.

"I was actually already on my way to come see you guys. "

"Oh. Well then now that you're here, let's start the meeting." Olivia says and smiles just as widely as Mo.

Something was defiantly going on here.

"Were you or were you not on a date with Raymond Thomas Beech last night at the Lovely Lady's Café?" Scott screams as Wen pushes me onto a beanbag chair and Charlie shines a flash light at my eyes.

"What are you guys doing?" I ask and shield my eyes from the bright light.

"Answer the question Ms. Yamada!" Mo screams and Olivia removes my hands from my eyes.

"Yes! I was. How did you guys even find out anyway?" I scream back and shut my eyes tightly.

"Well, Mo and I were trying to visit you last night. And just as we stop at the gift shop we see our best friend flirting with our number one enemy! Explain!" Olivia shouts.

"It's true. I was devastated! My Stella with a Mudslide Crush monkey!" Mo says and pretends to sob.

"You're dating a Mudslide Crush Monkey!" I shout and open my eyes.

"She's got a point." Charlie mumbles. "Ouch!" I chuckle when Mo hits his arm.

"Alright guys, that's enough of the Sherlock Holmes stuff." Wen says and takes the flashlight away.

"So you were on a date with that jerk?" Olivia asks.

"Yes…but I have a good reason!" I say and rub my eyes, hoping that the dancing spots with go away.

"What reason is good enough that you'll go on a date with him?" Charlie asks and sits next to me.

"He saved me from drowning." I answer as my cheeks turn a bright red.

"He what?" Wen asks and frowns.

"I can't swim. I was pushed into the deep end and Ray saved me. I felt like I owed him so when he asked if I'd go on a date with him…I said yes." I say.

"Wow…that is so sweet! You know I read a book like that once. the girl falls for the guy but then at the end of the book the girl still doesn't know how to swim and ends up drowning. Yeah it wasn't a very good book."Olivia says with a small smile. We all chuckle and sigh.

"So he _asked_ you out?" Scott asks and frowns.

"Yeah why?" I say.

"I've never seen him ask a girl out before. Usually he just says 'I'll pick you up at Seven, be ready.'" he mumbles.

"Jerk." Mo grumbles.

"so you aren't gonna do this again right? I mean…it just seems…wrong. You could do a lot better Stella." Charlie says.

"Trust me; I won't even be looking in his direction for a while."

"So why did you get all upset?" Olivia asks.

"Let's just say things went wrong." I answer and think back to all those things that Mark had said.

"Okay, we're going to Dante's later. You want to come?" Wen asks.

"I can't I have this family thing." I say.

"Oh…okay. So do you guys know what we're playing for the Summer Festival?" Scott asks with a frown.

"Yeah, for the Opening Jam we'll play Determinate. For the Midnight Dance we'll play More Than a Band, and then for the Finale we're playing She's So Gone." Olivia says with a smile.

"What she said." I say and chuckle.

"So, we're only going to play three times during the whole festival…maybe we can have some fun while we're there?" Mo says with a bright smile.

"Yeah! I hear they put in a tunnel of love." Scott says and wraps his arm around Mo's shoulders.

"Gross." Charlie says and frowns at them. "Get a room please."

"Oh shut up." I say and laugh.

"I should get going, I have to help my dad move some stuff out of the attic. I'll catch you guys later." Wen says and stands up.

"I should go too, my dad will kill me if I don't practice" Mo says and gets up.

"I'll drive you home." Scott says.

"Well, it's just you and me Stella. What are we gonna do?" Charlie says and walks over to his Drum Kit.

"I have an idea for a song, maybe we can work on some beats." I say and watch as he grabs some brum sticks and plays with the kit.

"Sure, what do you have in mind?"

"It's a powerful song. I was hoping we could play if for this year's Halloween bash." I say and smile.

"You sure Brandigan is even gonna let us play this year?" he asks.

"I worked it out. He lets us play at the bash and…we paint the walls of his office." I say and blush brightly.

"We what?" he asks.

"It seems like a fair deal! There are six of us, we'll get done in no time!" I say and walk over to stand behind him. Now let's get started on this song." "Fine." He grumbles.

OLIVIA:

I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something…wrong going on.

"You okay?" I nod when Wen asks the question and sigh. We were walking together since my house was only a few blocks from his.

"Do you fell like…something isn't right?" I ask and looks up at him.

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Like…something is going to happen but you don't know what." I explain and cross my arms.

"No…should I feel that way?"

"It was just a question Wen." I say and chuckle. He nods and sighs.

"So…I was thinking maybe this Friday night we could go see a movie or something?" he asks and blushes. This is what I like about Wen; even though he's a guy, this whole crush thing is just as foreign to him as it is to me.

"I'd like that." I say and smile.

"Great!" he says as we reach my door. "We'll talk later…bye." He says and smiles before walking away.

I walk in and head up to my room quickly before pulling out my phone. But I right before I can even touch the screen it vibrates violently

"Hello?" I answer with a frown.

"you know that she was lying right?" I smile at the sound of Mo's voice.

"yeah I know. It was pretty obvious that they were having a…moment." I answer.

"I'm not sure how to feel. I mean he can be such a jerk but…there are times when he's sweet. And they're perfect for each together! Stella is the first person to ever challenge Ray. She isn't afraid of him!"

"You lost me when you said he can be sweet." I say and frown.

"Never mind that. So what are we going to do? Keep her away? Or set them up?"

"I don't think he deserves her! I mean…maybe we shouldn't get involved."

"I'm getting involved! Ray is the biggest player in this town and he's only going to be a junior come September!"

"Alright alright I get it. So we're going to set them up…but he's going to have to earn the privilege of getting to be with her."

"Right. I have a plan. I'll be at your house in a few minutes. Be ready for _a lot _of screaming and persuading." She says before hanging up. I frown but sigh.

A few minutes later I open my door to the sight of Mo holding her makeup bag.

"What are we going to do?" I ask and frown.

"Stella is going to get a makeover. We are going to make her so…preppy, that Ray is going to fall head over heels for her. Then she's going to dump him and we are going to watch as he comes to us for help. After that we'll make him into the perfect guy for our Stella and then we watch in happiness as the the two become Mesa High's power couple."

"You thought all this out in just half an hour?" I ask and raise an eyebrow at her.

"my brain can multitask, now come on my father only let me borrow the car for two hours." She says and pulls me happily.

"you do you even know that Stella will agree to this?" I ask and get into the car.

"Stella loves to get pay back. We'll explain it to her in a way where she'll think it's all a part of a back back plan and she'll fall for Ray slowly but surely." Again I have to look at herin shock. He had thought all this out!

"don't look at me like that! I'm pretty not a bimbo!" she says and starts driving away.

"I've got to give you some more respect Mo. You thought of everything!"

"Pretty much. Stella better get ready for a whole lot of beauty." I chuckle and look through her bag quickly.

"What's this for?" I ask and pull out a big bottle of vanilla and flower scented shampoo.

"I remember Ray told me one time that he loved the smell of Vanilla Ice cream…I don't know why he told me but he did. Vanilla smells like Vanilla ice cream right?"

"I guess…" I say and frown.

STELLA:

I walk to the door a few minutes after we get back from our family dinner to find Olivia and Mo waiting at our door.

"um…hey guys." I say and frown.

"this is a best friend emergency Stella. If you are to accept this mission…you will be the best friend ever." Mo says seriously.

"Stella, what she means is…we need you right now. do you trust us?" Olivia asks.

"What's this about?" I ask and let them in.

"Accept the mission and then me tell you. But be warned once you accept you cannot back down." Mo answers.

"Alright I accept." I say and lead them into the room where I was staying.

"Excellent…Stella. We need you to listen carefully and open mindedly." Olivia says.

"Alright I'm listening." I say

"okay…we have a plan…"

**Okay, end of this chapter! : ) hope you liked it! I personally didn't really like the way it came out in the end. I fell like it could have been a lot better, but I as in a hurry to get a chapter up. Thanks a bunch to those of you that reviewed! I personally think that a pair of Eight year olds black mailing a sixteen year old seems weird so I decided to make the whole band the ones to black mail her! : D there will not be any Starlie romance in this Story but there will be a lot of Big brother behavior form Charlie. Sorry that there wasn't any Ray in this chapter, : ( review please! The next chapter will be up very soon!**


	4. The Deal

**I don't own Lemonade Mouth, just my copy of their soundtrack and Movie.**

STELLA:

I stared at them in shock and disbelief.

"so you want be to become a Barbie doll and get him to fall for me…then you want me to dump him when he seems to be at his happiest point?" I ask and raise an eyebrow.

"Exactly. I mean he made you made right? this is the perfect way to get revenge for all those pranks and rumors he spread!" Mo says with a smile.

"I think I'm starting to rub off on you Mo." I say and smile back.

"So will you do it?" Olivia asks with a pleading look.

"Well…I would be nice to see him get his heart broken." I mumble and sigh.

"And you could lead him on until school starts…then break up with him during lunch so that _everyone _sees him heartbroken."

"Okay…let's do this." I say and smiles widely.

"Stella you're the best!" Olivia says happily and stands up.

"Yeah. Okay hold still." Mo says before moving me and tilting my head back.

"What are you doing?" I ask and frown.

" getting you ready for your make over!" she answers happily.

OLIVIA:

I waited for Mo to finish the final tweaks impatiently.

"Okay you're done." I jumped up from the bed and walked over. I felt my jaw drop at what I was seeing.

"Oh my gosh! Stella you look…so different!" I practically scream. Mo had outlined Stella's blond highlights with a dark Purple, she had plucked her eyebrows so that they look perfect and frame her eyes nicely, her eyes seem to look brighter somehow, and her face looked completely smooth and soft.

"How do I look?" she asks and blushes.

"Just wait until we dress you tomorrow Stella. Ray isn't going to be able to keep his eyes off of you!" Mo say and chuckles.

"That's tomorrow. Right now we all have to get to sleep." I say and yawn. We had decided that we were spending the night with Stella to make sure she looked perfect for stage one of Plan: Break Down The Bad Boy.

"Yeah, come on." Stella says and stands up from her chair to go lay down.

"Fine. Good night." Mo grumbles and lies down next to Stella. I chuckle and lay down on her other side.

"Goodnight." I answer and close my eyes after turning off the lamp.

RAY:

Today I was assigned to another day at the Gift Shop. Great, just fantastic. My Eye had become swollen and a dark color while the cut on my temple had started to throb every few minutes.

"Mr. Beech what on earth happened to your face?" I winced slightly at the sound of Mr. Miller's annoyed tone.

"Just a soccer Accident." I lie and go back to restocking the paper weight shelf.

"What, did the soccer ball have fists and…razors?" he asks and places his finger on my temple and flinch away immediately and glare at the floor.

"That hurts could you please not touch me?" I say through clenched teeth as he frowns down at me.

"Very well. Get to work Mr. Beech." He says and walks out. I sigh and keep re shelving until the boxes are empty before heading back to the counter.

"Dude! Have you seen you're girlfriend this morning?" I wince when an annoying and loud ringing echoes in my ears.

"What are you taking about Mark?" I ask and sigh.

"Dude, come here." He says and takes my arm before dragging to the window. "you see that girl in the yellow dress?" I look around and nod when I see a small figure in a Yellow Summer dress.

"Yeah what about her?" I ask and frown.

"Keep watching." He says.

I watch as the girl hands some money to the cashier at the book store before turning around.

"Oh my God!" I gasp when I see who this small figure belongs to.

"I know right?" I stare for a few more seconds before speaking.

"What happened?" I ask myself softly.

"Dude, she's been flirting with that guy for the past half hour. You might want to go fix that." I nod slightly and he leaves with a chuckle.

"Excuse me?" I jump in surprise when a soft voice sounds through my ears. I turn around to find Stella's twin brothers holding one of the many 'Build it Your Self' wooden airplane kits.

"yeah?" I mumbles and walks back to the counter with them on my heals.

"We want to buy this." One of them says as the other places the box on the counter along with a Ten dollar bill.

"Alright." I say and place the bill into the machine before handing them their change.

"Timmy? Tommy?" I look up to see Stella standing at the door. I feel my body freeze and my jaw drop. She was even prettier up close.

"We got an airplane kit!" one of them says happily before walking over to her.

"I thought mom said that she gave you guys that money to go to the arcade. You two aren't supposed to be building." She scolds gently and raises an eyebrow.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her…or us right?" the other one says and walks over to her before wrapping his arms around her. He was so small compared to her that his arms just barely wrapped themselves around her waist.

Oh what I would give to be able to wrap my arms around her small waist! The dress hugged her nicely, defining her well hidden curves and allowing everyone around her to see that Stella Yamada had an hour glass figure.

"Fine, I won't tell here. Under one condition."

"There's always a condition with you Stell."

"Yup, okay here's the deal. I won't tell mom or dad that you two are planning on building an airplane…as long as you two don't tell the next time I do something bad."

"Deal."

"Okay, carry on." She says and chuckles when they both run out happily. She looks up at meets my gaze before smirking slightly.

"What's with the smirk Yamada?" I ask and curse under my breath when my voice comes out of a soft squeak.

"I'm just appraising my work." She says and walks over.

"Yeah, this stuff won't be gone until the end of summer break." I growl out as harshly as I can.

"Good for you." She says and crosses her arms over her chest. I roll my eyes and sit on the stool beside me.

"Don't push it Stella." I say and glare.

"I'm sorry okay?"

"Who do you think you are hitting a…wait what?" I gape at her when what she just said finally sinks in.

"I said I was sorry." She mumbles.

"I'm sorry I didn't quite hear you." I say with a small smirk.

"Don't push my buttons Beech; I'm not afraid to bruise your other eye." She threatens and gives me an annoyed look.

"Alright what are you up to Yamada?" I ask and cross my arms.

"What are you talking about?"

"You never apologies to anyone without there being something you want from the,. I may not personally know you, but I've seen you in action." I say.

"Fine…I need your help." She mumbles reluctantly.

"What?" I ask and chuckle. "The great Stella needs help? The revolution leader? The girl who questions authority? The girl who…"

"Okay okay I get it!" she snaps and cuts me off. I laugh and watch as she sighs and runs a hand through her hair. I watch in awe as her hair bounces right back into place.

"What do you need Stella?" I ask and smile widely.

"Well…I came here to make a deal with you." She mumbles.

"a deal? So I have to give you something and in return you'll give me something?" I ask and raise an eyebrow.

"Close. as you saw a few days ago, I can't swim. And I clearly remember you swimming perfectly with my clinging on to you. So, if you show me how to swim…I'll do you a favor."

"A favor? Such as?"

"Anything as long as it's reasonable.

"Alright I'll tell you what. I'll teach you everything I know about swimming…and in return you show me how to play the guitar."

"You want to learn how to play the guitar?" she asks and raises and eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I just do!"

"then why didn't you ever ask Scott to teach you?"

"Because I just acquired the desire to learn." I watched as she starred at me with a frown before opening her mouth to answer.

"Alright, you've got yourself a deal." She says and sticks out her right hand. I smirk slightly and shake it before sighing.

"Okay…your lessons will start on Sunday morning. Be at my house at Eight O'clock. Don't be late." I say and watch as she rolls her eyes.

"Alright. I'll see you around." She says and walks out.

"Wow…you insulted her, got hurt by her, and then you still manage to get her to like you!" I roll my eyes as Mark walks in after she leaves.

"You were eavesdropping?" I ask.

"yup." He answers and laughs. "So, you're gonna get to see that little hottie in a swim suit huh?" he asks and wriggles his eyebrows.

"Dude don't be a Perv." I say and glare at him.

"All I'm saying is that, this is a big opportunity for you. You're teaching her how to swim…there are a lot of things that could go down in the deep end."

"Okay now you're getting on my nerves. Shut up, before I hurt you for real."

"Alright alright!" he says and puts his hands up in surrender.

"I'm going on my munch break. Good luck." I say and hop over the counter.

"okay." He answers and takes my place.

MO POV:

I smile widely when Stella walks out of the shop.

"You did it!" I whisper yell.

"You did really good Stella." Olivia says happily.

"That was a lot easier than I expected." She mumbles as we walk into the elevator.

"Well at least phase one is complete." I say and push the button with our floor number on it.

"Yeah, now on to phase two." Olivia says and takes out her notebook.

"Phase 'Get Bad Boy to Agree to Swimming Lessons' is complete. Now on to phase 'Get Bad Boy to ogle' is starting." Stella mumbles and smiles slightly.

"You know what I just noticed?" Olivia says before crossing out something.

"What?" I ask.

"Stella is going to get to see Mesa High's bad boy half naked!" she says and smiles widely.

"Stella…you're blushing!" I say and chuckle.

"Shut up." She mumbles as she gets even redder. We walk out when the elevator doors open.

"So Stella…what are you going to wear to your swimming lessons?" I ask and smile.

"I have a blue one piece." She answers.

"A one piece? No…that won't do." I say and frown.

"what are you talking about?" she asks and frowns deeply.

"Mo she has to start covered up. Then about half way through the lessons…she'll come in with a bikini. But for now let's do the one piece." I stare at Olivia in shock.

"What? I can be devious too!" she says and blushes.

"I am rubbing off on you two!" Stella says proudly.

I smile and zone out after a few seconds. I was getting these two together even if it's the last thing I do! They're perfect for each other; they just don't know it yet.

**Okay, end of this Chapter! I know it's not a very good chapter but I promise the next one will be awesome! Okay so you guys have another say in the story. When do you guys think that Ray should kiss Stella? Here are your choices:**

**In the next chapter while he's showing her how to float on her back.**

**During their first Guitar lesson when Stella's arms are around him while she tries to get his fingers on the right strings.**

**During the 'Last days of summer' Bonfire that Ray takes her to after they start to get close to each other.**

**Other (explain when and where. Or what's happening.)**


	5. The Swimming Lesson

**I DO NOT OWN LEMONADE MOUTH!**

Chapter FIVE! : D

STELLA:

I yawned loudly and groaned when the alarm on my phone went off. It was Sunday morning for crying out loud why was that thing ringing.

_Brand new kicks and a brand new jersey  
>What do you expect, yeah we deserve it<br>Three-point shot, no time on the clock  
>And the crowd goes wild, are you ready or not?<em>

_And the crowd goes  
>Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh<br>Oh Oh Oh Oh  
>And the crowd goes<br>Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh  
>Oh Oh Oh Oh<em>

I sighed as the memories started flooding back as soon as the first verse of that song played. I had my first swimming lesson today. I had picked that song to play for that reason alone; if I didn't have a way to remember why I was waking up so early I would just fall asleep.

I turned the alarm off and sighed when it buzzed in my hand

_Wake up Stella! First Swimming lesson is today!_

I smiled after reading Mo's text. I slipped out of bed and walked to my window. The sun was just barely peeking through the horizon and it made the morning clouds explode with bright colors. After staring at the sky for a few seconds I finally made my way to the bathroom and started my shower. Today ought to be _very_ interesting.

RAY:

I groaned in annoyance when my happy dreams were interrupted by the sound of Olivia White's singing.

___I've been out on the edge  
>Breathin' a little bit of fresh air<br>Big dreams, I took a chance  
>Held out for everything I've got here<em>

_I've been feeling this life's a circus  
>Hanging on without a fear<em>

_Livin' on a high wire  
>Runnin' through a wildfire<br>You can't shake me, I'm not going nowhere  
>Walking on a tight rope<br>No net, high hopes  
>Step back, I'm gonna make it over<em>

I hit the Silence button before the rest of the song could start to play. Today was the day…Stella was coming over. I looked at my clock and sighed when I saw it was already Seven Thirty. I quickly grabbed my trunks and a T-shirt before heading into the bathroom.

…

"Ray!" I groaned when a loud _bang bang bang_ echoed through the room as my father knocked on the wooden door.

"Yeah?" I called out and washed out the rest of the shampoo in my hair.

"Your mother and I are leaving! Be sure not to let your sister out of your sight!" he yells. I hear him clomp downstairs and sigh when I hear the loud _Boom_ of the door shutting. I was in charge of babysitting my sister for the next two weeks while both my parents were on business meetings… just great. By the time I got out of the bathroom and had gotten ready, it was three minutes until eight. I walked downstairs and smirked at the sight of an Orange Camaro Convertible pull into the driveway. The top was pulled down and the person driving it was none other than my student. She was singing along to some song and by the way her eyes seemed to shine with happiness I was guessing it was one of _their_ songs. I walked out and chuckled in amazement.

"Oh my God!" I screamed and walked over to the hood. It had two striped running down the center it seemed to be begin me to touch it.

"Sweet huh? It was a birthday present." She says and gets out.

"Your parents got you this for your birthday?" I screamed and reached out to touch the shiny metal.

"Of course not! My grandparents got it for me." she says with a big smile. My hand lands on the metal and I have to stare at the car in awe for a few seconds.

"I would kill for a car like this! I'll trade you!" I say and look up at her with a smile.

"In your dreams Beech." She says and chuckles. "Come on I'm here to learn how to swim, not to let you ogle at my car."

"fine." I grumble. "can I ogle later?" I ask as we walk back towards the house.

"We'll see. Who knows maybe I'll even let you take it for a spin."

"Seriously?"

"I said _maybe_." I smile and shut the door behind us.

"I'll hold you to that. Come on, the pool's out back." I say and lead her through the living room, the kitchen, and the dining room.

"Your house is _huge_." She mumbles and stares at the big table.

"It's alright." I mumble and open the back door.

"It's _alright_? You're kidding right? I mean now I get why everyone comes to your parties." She mumbles and smiles. I smile too and head over to the generator. I turn on the water heater and head over to the shallow end.

"You're wearing your swim suit right?" I mumble and take off my shirt. I toss it over to one of the lawn chairs and go down the steps.

"Yeah." She mumbles. I don't look back but I hear fabric land on one of the other lawn chairs before I dive down and come back up. The cold water wakes me up completely and I shake the water out of my face and hair like a dog.

"Down boy." I chuckle and turn when Stella's mocking voice fills the quiet air. I have to stop myself from ogling again as she steps down into the water slowly. She's wearing the same swim suit as when I saved her and I know she can feel my stare by the way she adjusts her body so that the water reaches her neck even though we're only at 4ft 5in.

"Come on." I say and swim towards the deeper end. The pool went to 8ft at its lowest point. I stopped when I reached 6ft.

"Um…I'm good." She says when she seems where I am.

"Come on Stella you can't learn how to swim unless you try the deeper end." I say when she doesn't move at all.

"Can't we have out lesson here?" she asks and gives me a pleading look.

"Either you come over here, or I drag you over here. Come on." I say and hold out my hand.

"You won't let me go?" she asks and steps forward slightly.

"Nope."

"You swear?" she takes another step and extends her arm slightly.

"Cross my heart."

"That's cheating! You don't have one!" she says and laughs softly when I glare at her. "I'm kidding. Calm down." She says before jumping forward and catching my hand. I pull her over and wrap my arm loosely around her waist to keep her up.

"See? I caught you." I mumble and place my hand on the edge to keep myself up as well. I was only 5'11 after all.

"Fine, you get ten points on the I Trust You Scale. Are you happy now?" she mumbles and holds onto my as if I was a life saver and she was in the middle of the ocean.

"Stella you have to calm down." I mumbles and gently pry her fingers off so that she isn't pulling my hair out by the roots.

"How can I relax? I'm only 5'5!" she whisper yells. I can smell the faint smell of pepper mint and…Vanilla? I frown and lean in slightly to try to find the source of that Vanilla smell.

"What are you doing?" she asks and places her hand on my face so that the heal of her palm smoothes my lips and the rest of her hand covers my face. She pushes my face away from the side of her head roughly and gasps when I loosen my grip on her waist even more.

"Do that again and I'll drop you!" I say and rub my nose as it starts to ache when she pushed.

"Sorry…" she mumbles and presses herself tightly against my chest.

"Okay, first things first. We have to show you how to float." I say and slowly loosen my hold until she's able to move freely my arm but I'm still holding her up.

"Float?" she frowns at me and sigh.

"On your back." I say and slowly take my hand from the edge and place it on her lower back.

"What are you doing" she asks.

"Lean back." I demand and move so my back is pressed against the side of the pool.

"Huh?"

"Lay down Stella!" I say impatiently she frowns slightly but follows directions and leans dock. I place my other hand between her shoulders and hold her up. I can tell she's nervous, scared, and jumpy by the way her body doesn't float at all. If I were to let her go, she'd sink like a dead weight.

"Stella you have to calm down." I mumble softly and gently run my fingers over the exposed skin on her upper back.

"I can't swim, I'm in the deep end, and I'm trying to trust _you_! How can I calm down?" she hisses and stares up at me.

"Stella…close your eyes." I say softly and meet her gaze seriously.

"What?"

"Just do it!"

"Okay okay! Pushy." She mumbles and lets her eyes flutter closed.

"Okay now just…listen. What do you hear?" her ears were partially in the water so I didn't really expect her to hear anything.

"I hear waves…" she mumbles. I fell her lower back relax suddenly and her legs float up to the surface.

"Good. What else do you hear?" I ask and slowly remove my hand form her lower back and sigh gratefully when she stays up.

"I hear you voice but it's muffled." She answers can feel her muscles slowly relaxing over my hand.

"Okay what else?"

"My heartbeat."

"Okay focus on that." I say and gently remove my hand when her shoulder float up.

"Stella?" I whisper softly.

"hm?" she responds I can tell by her tone she's at peace.

"Open your eyes." I mumble. She does what I tell her to do and I keep my hands in the water.

"What?" she asks and frowns slightly. She stays up and I smile widely.

"Guess what." I say and takes a step away form her.

"What?"

"You're floating." I say and lift my hands out of the water to prove it to her.

"I'm..." she trials off and stares at my hands for a minute.

"Stay calm Stella." I say and take my place beside her. She nods and looks up at the clouds.

"Ray?" she says softly as her eyes flicker from one cloud to another.

"Yeah?" I ask and keep my eyes on her.

"what do I do now?" she asks. I smile and place my hand on her wrist.

"paddle." I say simply and lift her arm gently.

She lets me move her and I show her how to steer herself and row so that she's swimming on her back.

STELLA:

After a few hours I was able to swim backwards across the whole pool without nearly drowning every few seconds. Ray had saved me four times and with every time he showed me something new my trust in him grew. Right now I was at the edge by 4ft 8in while he swam back and forth. He was doing what he said was called a 'Butterfly Stroke'. He came out and in fluently and easily did a flip inside the water to go back and forth. He had insisted we have learning how to swim forwards for next week even though I wanted to learn it today. He did one more trip before doing one of his flips and swimming normally over to me.

"Where did you learn how to swim?" the question just pops out of my mouth and he chuckles as he tries to catch his breath. For the first time ever I was able to see the caring side of Raymond Beech. Frankly I liked it when he was easy going and had that sweet smile on his face.

"My father put me on a swimming team when I was five. I competed for a few years but then he got a job where he couldn't even come to my meets because of all his meeting and stuff so I quit. My step brother did soccer when he was in the seventh grade so I gave it a try. It turned out I was good at it and since Mesa High doesn't have a football team soccer players were…" he trails off with a small smile on his lips.

"The popular kids?" I finish for him and he nods.

"Yeah. I noticed that Mr.B only actually cared about Soccer so…the better I was the more attention I got form him, and the more attention I got form him the more praise I got from my father." He mumbles. I stare at him for a moment before speaking.

"So if Mr. Brandigan asked you to be on the Swimming team you'd say no?"

"Well…I'd give it a try. Then if the team wasn't any good well then I'd have to think about it. I mean if they aren't good I'll be the star swimmer but at the same time they'll be the laughing stock of the school." he mumbles.

"You said step brother." I say and blush when he frowns down at me.

"Yeah so?" he says and chuckles softly.

"You're mom. Is she your step mom or something?"

"The woman my father is married to right now is his third wife. My mom passed away when I was three. And when I was six he married another woman. She already had a son so I got an older brother. Then after a few years they got divorced. Four years ago he met Linda. She had a daughter and they started dating. He asked her to marry her about two and a half years ago." He explains as if it didn't even matter.

"So you've had three different moms in the past sixteen years?" I ask and frown.

"Well I've had three legal moms. Between marriages my father would date. Some of them would last longer than others and most of them treated me like a son."

"You talk about it so…casually." I say and blush when he rolls his eyes.

"To be honest… I really don't like to talk about it. But right now I feel like everything's okay and I don't care." He says. For the first time today I actually look at him. Droplets of water are dripping from his hair while his chest moves quite rapidly as he tries to catch his breath form all the swimming and talking he's done.

"What are you starring at?" he asks and I snap out of my trance.

"What happened?" I frown at the pink line that runs down his side.

"Oh, it's nothing." He says.

"It doesn't look like it was nothing." I mumble and run a finger down the long line. He jerks away when I reach the center of the scar as if it burned him.

"It was just a little accident." He mumbles and takes a few steps back.

"A little accident? Ray people don't get scars like those because they were in a little accident." I say and step towards him. He steps back again and before he can react I grab his hand and pull him easily to me.

RAY:

I feel my body get yanked forward and my face goes down, only to me met my soft skin instead of water.

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to pull you that hard." I feel a small hand connect when the back of my head and I notice that Stella's holding me close to her body. Either that or I'm draped over her.

"I'm fine." I mumble and slowly try to untangle myself from her. She frowns and keeps one hand on my chest while the other places its self on the back of my neck gently.

"Are you sure? Because you're bleeding." She mumbles and wipes her finger on the side of my arm.

"It's just a scrape, no big deal." I say after noticing where I had rubbed my arm against the side of the pool roughly.

"If you say so."

For the first time I notice that Stella's so close I get that scent again. The faint smell of Vanilla and something else.

"Do you smell Vanilla?" I feel my cheeks get hot as the question pops out of my mouth. She chuckles softly

"You're blushing. And yeah it's my shampoo." She says and lifts the hand that was around my neck to my hot cheek. I don't know what compelled me to lean forward but the next thing I know Stella's lips are on mine in a soft kiss. I can hear my heart pounding in my ears and just as I'm starting to pull away to start apologizing wildly, she responds.

STELLA:

His lips are soft and warm. Under my hand I can feel his wild heart beat and I smile slightly when his cheek gets even hotter under my touch. I feel him shift to start pulling away and before I can talk myself out of it, I kiss him back.

**Okay, end of chapter! : D I'm so proud of myself! Two chapters in two days! : )okay so I had a lot of fun with this chapter as you can probably see. It's long, it was posted quickly, and there was a lot of romance. Okay so I'm going to try to get you guys as involved as possible so I'm going to start leaving some of the story choices up to you. Here is the next poll:**

**Where should they're next date be?**

**The Festival.**

**The Last Days Of Summer Bonfire**

**Ray should ask Stella to come see one of Mudslide Crush's shows**

**Other. (explain where and when he asked her.)**


	6. After The Kiss

**I DON'T OWN LEMONADE MOUTH.**

Chapter SIX!

RAY:

What happens after she kisses me back is a blur. All I remember is feeling both her hands in my hair while mine are on her waist. our make out session didn't last long, right when I was finally starting to enjoy myself for real she pulled away and got out of the pool.

Right now, I'm making us some sandwiches while she takes a shower upstairs.

"Who's taking a shower?" I look up to see the little devil walk into the kitchen.

"Stella." I answer and place a plate on the counter.

"Who?"

"A friend. You hungry?" I ask and finish up the last sandwich.

"Yeah."

"Here, take it up to your room and don't make too much noise." I say and hand her a plate with a ham and cheese sandwich on it. She nods and disappears after a few minutes of snooping around the cabinets.

"hey." I jump when Stella's voice cuts through the silent air.

"Hey. You're…quiet." I mumble and mentally smack myself. Why was I so nervous around her now? it's still the same Stella!

"Yeah..." she mumbles and sits down on the counter.

"Stella…I know what you're doing. We can't just pretend that it didn't happen." I say and sit down by the stove so that I'm across from her and at the same time guarding the easiest escape.

"Who says?" she snaps and crosses her arms.

"Me,"

"You aren't the boss of me."

"Stella. Can we at least try to work this out? I mean you kissed me back, multiple times!" I say and walk over to her.

"Ray…please can we just forget it?" I place my hand on either sides of her legs and leans in slightly.

"You come any closer and I will hurt you again."

"Go for it. I don't care." I lean in even closer and sigh gratefully when she doesn't hit me.

"Ray I'm serious!" she whisper yells and places her hands on my chest.

"So am I."

"I know what you're trying to do and I'm not falling for it."

"Yeah? And what is it that I'm trying to do?" I ask and lean in closer.

"You're trying to trick me into closing the space." She mumbles as her eyes glance down at my lips.

"close." I whispers and catch her parted lips in mine. It takes her about twenty seconds to respond before she tries to push me away.

"Ray! Come on please?" she asks and pushes again. I don't give in and stay at a distance where our noses grazed.

"Tell me the truth. Did you feel nothing?" I ask and move her hair from her face.

"I…I felt something." She mumbles. "But that doesn't mean I like it!"

"Stella."

"Okay I like it but that doesn't mean I have to accept it!"

"Stella, give me a chance. Just give me one more chance and I promise I won't blow it! All I want is for you not to want to forget what we did." I say and look at her pleadingly.

I don't know why I was even asking this of her. Usually when a girl wanted to forget me I'd agree eagerly. The more they wanted to forget the more I could fool around with other girls. I find myself with a pounding heart, flushed cheeks, and pleading eyes as I wait for her to answer.

"One more chance?" she mumbles and pushes me away slightly. I let her and sigh before nodding.

"Just one more. I promise I won't blow it this time."

"Fine. One more chance."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

I chuckle and quickly kiss her before walking back to where I had put the sandwiches.

"That's cheating!" I chuckle at her response and hand her a plate.

"I don't play fair." I say.

"You'll pay for that Beech."

"Can't wait Yamada."

"You're such a dork!" she says and chuckles. I smile back and sit next to her.

"So when's our first Guitar lesson?" I ask and take a bite out of the sandwich.

"About that…" she mumbles and blushes.

"You aren't bailing on me are you?"

"No no! would you by any chance have your own guitar?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well I have a left handed guitar and…you're right handed."

"Oh…yeah."

"So you have one?"

"Yeah. Don't worry Stella. Just eat your sandwich." I say and smirk.

"I'm not hungry."

"Oh god you aren't one of those girls that starves themselves because you're afraid what a guy'll think of you are you?" I groan and place my place next to hers.

"Of course not!" she answers and laughs softly.

"Prove it."

"What?"

"You heard me Stella."

"fine." She says and picks up her sandwich before taking a bite. I chuckle when I see her face. She looks like a squirrel with a bunch of nuts in her mouth.

"Don't laugh!" she says after swallowing.

"I wasn't laughing! I was just…coughing attractively." I say as chuckles erupt form my mouth.

"You are such…"

"A dork! Yeah I know." I cut her off and chuckle even more at the look on her face.

"I should go." She says and hops off the counter.

"What?" I frown and follow her to the living room.

"It's getting late." She says and grabs her bag.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" I ask and hand her they keys to her car.

"When's your lunch break?"

"Two thirty."

"When do you have to be back?"

"Four."

"Meet me at Dante's around three." She says and starts walking to the door.

"Like as in a date?" I ask and follow her to her car.

"No. the guy is the one that asks the girl out not the other way around. Or at least in my opinion that's the way it should be."

"So if I ask you out you'll say yes?"

"No promises. But you're only getting one more chance. Choose wisely." She says and gets into her Camaro.

"All right. Good night Stella." I say and close her door.

"good night Ray."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on." I say when she starts the car.

"What?"

"No good night kiss?" I ask and give her my puppy dog look.

"I'm not a sucker for the puppy dog eyes Ray.

"Fine. Then I'll miss you." I say and pout.

"Oh you're good at the guilt card." She groans and reaches up to take a hold of the collar on my Letterman jacket.

"I'm taking that as a complement." I say and chuckle as she pulls me down.

"It was meant to be one." she mumbles and kisses me gently. I kiss her back and sigh when she pulls away.

"Good night." I say and smile.

"Good night." She smiles back and starts the car before driving away.

STELLA:

I kissed him. He kissed me! I couldn't help the goofy smile that was plastered on my lips as I drove. Olivia, Mo and I had agreed that we'd spend the night over at Olivia's house tonight. They were even more excited about his lesson than I was. I pulled up to the house and got out, but before I could even grab my duffle I heard two happy voices.

"Stella!" I smile when Olivia and Mo reach me with big smiles.

"Whoa. What's with the big smile?" Olivia asks and chuckles.

"I'm just happy." I say and grab my bag before walking with them to the house.

"That's not just any smile though. Oh my gosh!" I jump when Mo squeals happily.

"What?" Olivia and I ask in shock.

"That's the same smile that Olivia had on when Wen kissed her for the first time!" she answers.

"Are saying that Stella got kissed by Wen?" Olivia asks and frowns.

"No! I'm saying that Stella got kissed by Mesa High's star soccer player!" I feel my blood rush to my cheeks as we walk to Olivia's room.

"Stella is that true?" I bluish even brighter when Olivia smiles at me knowingly.

"Maybe."

"It is true!" they both say and chuckle.

"Okay so it is." I say and sit on the bed.

"Phase three is complete." Mo says happily.

"What's phase four?" I ask.

"Get him to be protective." I chuckle when Mo smirks.

"Protective how?" I ask.

"well, with your new look a lot of guys have hit on you right?"

"yeah." I respond.

"Well, I know Ray's behavior. He'll ask you to the Festival and then take you to the tunnel of love. He'll say it'll just be a fun little rid but he'll make a move on you. But anyway, at the festival there are going to be a lot of guys. You let them flirt with you without flirting back and he'll go crazy. He'll start to be protective of you and soon he won't want to leave you. The more protective he gets the more his heart will break." Olivia and I stare at Mo for a second before I respond.

"Seriously? What haven't you thought of?"

"I think she's thought of everything. Come on Mo let's get some snacks. Stella with you start the move?"

"yeah." I say as they walk out.

OLIVIA:

"Okay so what's the real plan?" I ask when we reach the kitchen.

"She'll start to like the fact that he wants to be close to her and he'll start falling for her. When she tries to break up with him he'll do anything to get her back. That's where we come in. we'll help him win Stella's heart and before we know it, they'll be sweethearts." I chuckle as she pours some chips into a bowl.

"You are devious and brilliant." I say and chuckle.

"Why thank you. After Stella we'll work on Charlie."

"That one will be interesting." I laugh softly as we walk back to my room.

**Three chapters in three days! Okay so I know the end of the chapter was a little boring but there's a reason it was in there! Here's the next pole:**

**What should happen outside of Stella and Ray's romance?**

**Scott should develop a crush on the new looking Stella.**

**Mo should find Scott cheating on her with another girl. And after that she'll slowly start to like Charlie.**

**Mo should start developing a crush on Charlie**

**None of the above.**


	7. the Disaster

**I DO **_**NOT**_** OWN LEMONADE MOUTH!**

CHAPTER SEVEN.

RAY:

The ticking of that stupid clock seemed to take forever.

"Dude why are you starring at that thing like you're crazy?"

"It's two thirty. I'm going on my lunch break." I say quickly and hop over the counter. I practically run to my car and push anyone in my way.

…

"hey." I drop onto the booth where Stella is sitting.

"hey." I say and smile at her.

"Are you okay?" she asks and reaches over to move my hair from my eyes.

"Yeah I'm fine." I respond.

"You're blushing and you look like you just ran a mile." She says and frowns slightly.

"It's nothing." Just as I say that one of the waiters comes over and places a pizza between us.

"If you say so." She says and grabs a slice. I take one too and start eating.

"Why are you starring at me?" I ask when I feel her gaze burning holes into my head.

"I'm not starring." She mumbles and smiles.

"Sure you aren't." I chuckle when her face turns a bright red.

"Ray?" I look up and frown when she's starring over my shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

"Look behind you." I do what she says and slide down in the booth until my head can't be seen.

"Do they know? I ask and wince when I hear Mo laugh.

"Mo and Olivia do, the others don't. Stay down." She says and slides down slightly.

"Why don't the others know?" I glance over and quickly turn back when Scott looks over at us.

"Because they'll go all Big Brother Bear on you!" she hisses and sighs.

"Okay here's the plan. Did you drive here?"

"Yeah why?"

"Okay, you're going to walk out. Here put this on and keep your head down. After a few minutes I'll leave too. Meet me under Big Oak Street in fifteen minutes okay?"

"Have you done this before?" she asks and takes my Letterman jacket before slipping it on.

"Once or twice." I mumble and glance over at the rest of the lemon heads.

"Geez you're bigger than you look!" she mumbles and I can't help the chuckle that escapes my mouth when I see her practically drowning in the fabric of the jacket.

"Go Stella." I say. She nods and quickly stands up. I watch as she keeps her head down and walks out of the restaurant easily. After about ten minutes I stand up too and start walking out.

"Ray?" I wince when Scott's voice calls out my name,

"Hey man." I say and put on a fake smirk.

"Hey, listen man I got to talk to you." I sigh when he stands up and we walk out to the parking lot.

"What is it Scott I'm kind of in a hurry here." I mumble and look at my watch.

"I got Mudslide Crush a gig. I'll play with you guys and I got the others in on it too. It'll be like out last show. It's at the warehouse and we can charge people."

"You did what?" I forget about Stella for a second and stare at him.

"You heard me. I felt I owed you. So I did it."

"Thanks man! When is this going down?" I ask and smile.

"Next Friday. So will you do it?"

"Yeah! At the warehouse right?"

"yeah."

"I'll be there, I got to go." Is ay and quickly jog to my car.

"Hey Ray!" I turn to see Mo walking out.

"What?" I call back and get into the car.

"take care of her!" I feel my cheeks turn a bright red and before Scott can ask what she's talking about I drive away.

STELLA:

I stood by the tree a few feet from the street sign and waited for Ray to pull up.

"Stella!" I turn my head and stare as Ray pulls up driving way over the speed limit. He jumps out of the car even before it comes to a complete stop and trips over the side walk but just gets up and keeps running towards me.

"Hey! Calm down!" I say and catch his shoulders before he can fall again.

"Sorry I just need to tell you something…great!" he says and smiles widely. This is the happiest I've ever seen him.

"What's going on?"

"Scott got Mudslide Crush a gig!" I see his eyes light up immensely and he chuckles.

"You're really excited." I say and cup his cheeks to keep him from jumping with excitement.

"I'll be even more excited if you come and see us." He says and places his hands over mine.

"You want me to come see you perform?" I frown slightly but he nods.

"Please?"

"I'd love to."

"Great!" suddenly I find his lips on mine. Instead of pulling away like Mo insisted I do every time he tries to kiss me, I let him enjoy himself and kiss him back. His hands squeeze mine softly before he pulls away slowly.

"Come on, let's get some food." I say and start pulling him towards my car.

"Why don't we just go to my house? I don't think it's safe for us to be walking around town holding hands." He says and opens my door with a smile.

"Fine. I'll meet you there?"

"yeah." With that he shuts the door and walks over to his car. I follow him to the big house and sigh happily when we walk in.

"Come on." He says and pulls me to the kitchen.

"What are we eating?"

"How does Lasagna sound?"

"Fantastic." I say and sit down on the counter. I find myself starring at him when he opens the fridge and bends down slightly.

He had a cute butt…wait what? What am I thinking? This is Ray beech why am I even looking at his butt, it's flat and…oh who am I kidding it's firm and cute.

"What are you starring at?" my eyes snap up to find him frowning at me.

"Um…nothing." I lie and smiles slightly.

"Mm-hm." He takes out a box and opens it before shoving its contents into the oven.

"Ray?" I say as he adjusts the temperature on the oven.

"Yeah?"

"Scott once told us a story about…soccer players getting to mark their territory. What did he mean by that?" I ask and frown.

"It's nothing. Just a rule some seniors made up a few years ago."

"What's the rule?" I hop off the counter and hug his letterman jacket to my body and cross my arms. I absolutely loved the feeling of it. And the fact the faint smell of chocolate and something else fills my senses just added to the fact that it felt as if he had his arms around me at all times.

"Well…it's called the Golden Marking Rule. Basically the letterman jacket is like a stamp." He mumbles and pretends to be interested in the oven.

"Explain it?" I ask and take his hand. He looks down at me and sighs.

"Promise you won't get all defensive?"

"I swear."

"alright." He sighs again and pulls me to the kitchen table. We sit down and he pulls me onto his lap. I don't complain or move away, instead just wait for him to start explaining.

"Okay, so a few years ago…1996 to be exact. The soccer captain made the book of sacred Mesa high Soccer member rules. These rules are like…the Ten Commandments for Mesa High soccer players. There are eleven in all so I guess they're the eleven soccer commandments but anyway. Rule number One is what's called the Golden Marking Rule. It says that as long as a girl wears a team member's jacket, whoever's last name is on that jacket…well that's the person they belong to." He explains and blushes.

"What do you mean _belong_?"

"Well say that we went to one of the Soccer team's parties. You'd wear that jacket and all the other guys or people at that party will see you. They'll immediately see the jacket and _boom_! You re off limits to anyone and everyone. Except under one condition. If a former team member decides that they want you, then they can challenge me to a fight. Winner gets the girl, unless of course you refuse. It's barbaric but respectful at the same time." He says and smiles slightly.

"Wow…so if I wore this thing out, they would know?" I ask and frown.

"Pretty much. And if a guy even tries to hit on you, I have the right to knock him into next month." He says as his smile grows.

"Okay then. I think the lasagna is ready." I say when I smell tomato sauce.

"Oh, I forgot about that." He mumbles and gently places me on a chair before walking to the oven. When he comes back he has a pan in one hand and two plates in the other.

"Lemonade?" he asks and grabs a pitcher from the fridge. I chuckle softly and nod.

"Can I ask you something else?" I ask and watch as he pours himself some too before sitting down and serving some lasagna to both our plates.

"sure." He answers and hands me my plate.

"On my first day you made a mocking comment to me. What was going on in your head when you said it?" I ask and stare at him. He turns a bright red and a smile appears on his face.

"You want the truth?"

"Yeah I do." I answer and smile.

"The first thing that popped into mind was 'Fresh Meat.' Then I actually got a good look at you while you walked to the doors and I thought 'hey look, I have a new toy to play with.' Then I got a look at you as a whole and I decided that you weren't going to be like the other girls at Mesa. You weren't going to be a toy; you were going to be a rival. I was right." he says and starts eating.

"What do you mean?"

"You aren't like anybody else here. Before you showed up, freshmen practically bowed at my feet, and senior girls actually wanted me to hit on them. Then you came along and everyone started standing up for each other. I didn't like at first but then I realized that maybe things were changing for the better."

"So you respect me?" I ask and raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah I respect you." He says and reaches over to take my hand.

The rest of his lunch break, we talked and laughed. There wasn't a time that I wasn't blushing after that. When we were done I insisted on driving him back to the resort and when his shift was over, back home.

"Stella is you sure? I mean my shift ends at eight." He says as we walk out of the house.

"Yes I'm sure. Here, you drive." I say and toss him the keys.

"Sweet!" he screams and runs to the car.

RAY:

I had gotten off of work early today and I smiled as I pulled into my drive way. Stella had let me drive again and I was enjoying every bit of it. The car moved so smoothly that it felt as if we were flying, and these seats were so comfortable that I wanted to stay in them for the rest of my life.

"Can't we take another drive?" I ask as she gets out and smiles.

"No we can't. Come on Ray you drove it now hand it over." I sigh and get out of the car.

"Can you at least stay for a few minutes?" I ask and hand her the keys.

"Sure why not." She tucks the keys into her pocket and I take her hand before starting to pull her to the front door.

"Hey where are your parents?" she asks and frowns.

"They're both on some business trips." I answer and unlock the door.

"Oh my…" I hear her gasp and I frown before looking up from the door knob. I feel my body go rigid as I watch the scene that's laid out before me.

"Dad?" I scream and feel my face becoming red.

"Ray!" he gasps and looks up. He's laid over some lady that has got to be at least half his age.

"Ray, come on." I feel Stella tug on my hand but I stay frozen.

"Ray it isn't what it looks like."

"No it is what it looks like!" I yank my hand away from Stella and walk over to them. They're both completely nude and laid out on the couch in a tangled bunch of limbs.

"Ray, get out of the house for a while." He says and sits up.

"What is wrong with you?" I scream and throw his shirt at the girl. She quickly slips it on and gets up.

"I'll be upstairs." She mumbles and runs up.

"Ray…" I glare at him and he shuts up quickly.

"Ray stop, come on." Stella grabs my hand and starts pulling again. This time I let her pulls me away and out of the house.

"here." I catch the keys to the Camaro easily and quickly get in.

"Buckle up." I growl out and start up the engine.

"Ray?"

"Not now Stella." I yell out and pull out of the driveway. I see her reach out and before I know what she's doing she has her hand in mine.

"you're shaking." She mumbles. I notice for the first time that I'm vibrating with the anger that I'm trying so hard not to let out.

"Is it okay if we go Dante's or something? I need to get that out of my head." I mumble and take her hand in mine.

"Turn right at the next light, I have a better idea." She mumbles. I nod and stare at the road angrily.

**Okay so end of chapter! So far this is defiantly one of my favorite chapters! Okay so those of you that voted on the pole. Thank you! The majority wants Scott to cheat and Mo will develop feelings for Charlie. It'll happen soon I promise! Oh and as for those of you that don't want Stella to dump Ray, sorry but it's going to happen. But don't worry! By the time she does, Ray is going to be so in love that he's going to fight for her : ) review please!**


	8. Confrontions

**Okay so this one is dedicated to **_**JuliLuvsEliGold**_** I wasn't going to update until at least next month but her fantastic review changed my mind! So she gave me an idea…mwahahaha! : D**

RAY:

She lead us to the docks and the smell of salt water immediately calmed me down some.

"Come on." I look over to see her waiting for me.

"Why'd you bring us here?" I ask and shove my hands into my jacket pockets.

"You'll see." I chuckle softly when I notice that half of my Letterman jacket was almost at her elbow rather than at her shoulder where it was supposed to be. Gently, I move it up and smile when she blushes.

"Are you really this big or did you just get a jacket that's twice your size?" she asks and takes my hand before starting to pull me up the steps to one of the docks.

"I'm really that big Stella." I mumble.

"Ray? Come on cheer up? Get that disgusting image out of your head." I look out at he waves and sigh.

"It isn't the image that's bothering me Stella." I say and pull her closer.

"How did that image not bother you?" I smile down at her disgusted face.

"Okay, that was nasty but it isn't the worst part."

"What's the worst part?"

"Look, sunset." I mumble and point to the big orb of light. She gets mesmerized by it and I pull us to the end of the dock.

"look." She gets in front of me and I wrap my around her waist.

"What?" I mumble and lay my chin on her shoulder.

"The first star." She points to a small white dot in the sky.

"Make a wish." I mumble and smile when she closes her eyes.

"Ray?" I nod slightly in response and keep watching her.

"Yeah?" I whisper and pull her closer to me.

"This is the first time we've been this close without us yelling at each other." She opens her eyes and looks up at me with a smile.

"Yeah. I like it." I mumble as she turns in my arms to hug my waist.

"So do I. are you calm now?" she buries her face in my chest and I easily run my hand through her short hair.

"I guess. Stella?" she looks up at me with a small smile.

"Yeah?" I lean down and catch her lips in mine. She doesn't pull back, instead places her hands on my chest and kisses me back.

Then I hear it. A loud whistling sound before a loud _BOOM_. I quickly pull away in shock and look up to see bright colors flying through the sky.

"relax Ray, they're fireworks." She says and places her hand on my cheek to turn my head back to her. He lips press against mine and I can't help but pull away slightly.

"Why are people shooting fireworks?" I ask and kiss her back a few times.

"These docks were built seventy years ago. They're having a celebration." She answers and backs into the railing behind her. I follow and bend down to catch her lips in mine again but wince when the loudest BOOM I've ever hears sounds through the air.

"Whoa." I breathe out and watch as a gigantic star forms in the sky.

"You better now?" I chuckle and look down at her.

"_Much_ better." I say and kiss her again.

"Ray?" I frown slightly and ignore the voice behind me.

"Stella?" I feel her push me away slightly.

"Mo." She mumbles and looks over my shoulder.

"Ray?" I turn slightly to see Scott starring at in shock.

"Hey." I sigh and move so that I'm not blocking Stella.

"Stell, can I talk to you for a second?" I watch Stella walk away and they mumble softly as both her and Mo walk away from us.

"What's going on?" I look over to see Scott frowning at me.

"What do you mean?"

"That look on your face…dude no way." I wince and sigh.

"Don't say it." I say and watch as fireworks fill the sky.

"I've never been one to follow order. Dude, you're falling for her." I wince again and look back at him.

"Shut up!"

"No. come on Ray we've been best buds wince preschool you can tell me." he says and crosses his arms with a grin.

"What can I say. She isn't like the others." I mumble and feel my cheeks get red.

"I knew it would happen sooner or later but I never thought it's happen with Stella Yamada."

"Shut up! She'll hear you!" I hiss when I see Stella turn slightly.

" so did you invite her to watch?"

"Yeah."

"What'd she say?"

"She said yes."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I got to go." I mumble and start walking towards the girls.

STELLA:

"What are you wearing?" I frown when Mo takes the collar of the huge jacket and lifts it slightly.

"What? He handed it to me so I wore it." I mumble and hug the fabric to my body.

"You two were making out a few seconds ago." She raises and eyebrow and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah so?"

"So it looked like you were enjoying it just as much as he was."

"Shut up Mo." I blush and smile slightly.

"Stella please tell me you aren't falling for Ray Beech?"

"What? That's…absurd!" I say and turn to look over at him.

"No it isn't! it's okay if you are I mean… I just thought you'd carry out with the plan."

"I am going to carry out with it. But I can to make him believe that I like him right?"

"Yeah and what better way to make him believe than to actually start crushing on him."

"I don't like him that way!"

"But you like him?"

"He's…sweet when he wants to be." I mumble and sigh.

"He's coming." I turn to see both Ray and Scott walking over.

"Hey, you ready to go?" he takes my hand easily and smiles at me.

"y-yeah." I sigh when I stutter and glance at Mo. She has that sinister smile on her face as Ray pulls me away and back towards the car.

"Why were they here?" I look up at him and frown slightly.

"I have no idea." I answer. "You're upset again." I say and stop walking just as we reach the car.

"No I'm not." He mumbles and opens my door.

"Look at me." I demand and shut the door. He sighs and looks at the floor.

"Okay I'm not as happy as I was a few minutes ago." He says before glancing up at me.

"Why?" I ask and place my hand on his cheek.

"Because for the first time in a while I was actually _happy_ and the moment was ruined." He mumbles.

"You know you never told me why that image wasn't the worst part." I say to try to get his mind off the ruined moment.

"Yeah I know." He mumbles as I pull him closer. He wraps his arms around my waist and smiles slightly.

"_Are_ you going to tell me?" I ask and frown slightly when he pulls me towards the front of the car.

"Do you really want to know?" he asks before lifting me onto the hood of the car.

"Yes. Maybe I can make you feel better." I say and cup his cheeks so that his lips squish together and he makes a funny face.

"okay." He chuckles and places his hands on either side of me so that I'm boxed in.

"speak." I say and smile widely before removing my hands.

"That wasn't the first time I caught him." He mumbles and sighs.

"What?" I frown in shock.

"This isn't the first time he's cheated on his wife." He says and looks down. Instinctively I pull him over so that his head lies on my shoulder. He wraps his arms around my waist and leans into me.

"I'm sorry." I whisper.

"It isn't your fault." He says and looks up at me.

"I'm still sorry." I mumble and peck him softly.

RAY:

I can't get over how soft her lips are every time she kisses me.

"Stella?" I say and peck her back.

"Yeah?" gently I lays her down and crawl over so that i'm laying next to her but still hovering over her.

"Do you like me?"

"Why do you ask?" I peck her again and let one of my hands lay on her waist.

"I just want to know."

"Yeah. I really like you. Do you like me?" I answer her by planting my lips on hers. I can tell she's shocked by the way she freezes before responding.

"We should get going." She mumbles when I move from her lips to her cheek.

"Where to?" I mumble and start moving down.

"Ray stop." She says and places her hands on my cheeks. I sigh and move back up to look down at her. she stares at me with big innocent eyes and I feel the guilt kick in.

"Sorry." I sigh again and sit up. She sits up too and takes my hand.

"Come on. It's only seven fifteen. Let's head over to Dante's. my treat." She says and starts pulling me off the hood of her car.

"fine." I say and open her door before waling over to the driver's side.

"Ray?" I take her hand after I turn on the car and start driving away.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Will you come see Lemonade Mouth at the Festival?"

"Only if you'll be my date for that night." I squeeze her hand gently and she chuckles.

"Deal."

I pull into the parking lot at Dante's and sigh when I see Jules and Patty walking in with the rest of last year's soccer team.

STELLA:

I noticed what he was starring at and sigh.

"We can go somewhere else if you want." I say and look at him.

"No. I really like you and you like me back. I don't care what they have to say we have as much of a right to be here as they do. Come on."

I watch with shock as he gets out of the car confidently.

"Seriously?" I ask and raise and eyebrow.

"Yes. Come on." He opens me door and smirks down at me.

"There's the Ray I remember." I mumble and chuckle when a mischievous look flashes through his eyes.

This ought to be interesting.


	9. The Big Question

**See? Was it so hard to review? Lolz okay so I know you guys are enjoying the daily updates but sadly I won't be able to update for about two weeks maybe three. Expect about three more chapters before I have to stop updating. But I promise that while I'm gone I'll write a lot of chapters! Okay, enjoy this one! I know that Ray is being a little out of character but I'm trying to get in as much as his jerky side without getting Stella upset. Bear with me! I don't own Lemonade Mouth sadly: (**

STELLA:

When we walked in I quickened my pace and tried to stay hidden. I wasn't afraid of them I just really didn't want to deal with them right now. I know this night has had its ups and downs but right now I'm actually happy and those brats aren't going to ruin it.

"Come on." I let Ray tug me into a booth and sigh gratefully when none of them see us.

"Are you sure about this?" I ask and tighten my hold on his hand.

"Will you calm down? I'm positive." He says and squeezes my hand with a smile. one of the many waiters comes over and Ray orders a medium cheese Pizza before looking back at me.

"I'm sorry; I just don't want to deal with them right now." I mumble.

"Ray?" I wince slightly when a high pitched voice calls out loudly.

"It'll be over before you know it I promise." He whispers before looking behind my shoulder and plastering on a smirk. "Hey Jules." He says with fake enthusiasm.

"Hi!" I glare when he plops down next to me and pushes me away with her hip.

"You know Stella right?" I watch as she turns her head slowly.

"Of course!" she says with a big smile. I smirk slightly when her eyes flash down to the big M with Ray's last name below it on the jacket around me.

"Jules?" my eyes go to Ray and see that he's frowning deeply.

"What is she wearing?" that big smile disappears and is replaced by a glare.

"My jacket. Why?"

"You know that rules Ray! Only girlfriends get to wear them! That jacket is supposed to be mine!" my eyes widen slightly and I look at Ray.

"We broke up remember?" he says and raises and eyebrow.

"No! I said we needed a break I never said it was over!"

"Well then let me be the one to break it off alright? It's over Jules. Bye bye." I watch in amazement for a second before she stands up angrily.

"Here you go." we all look up as a guy places our Pizza in front of Ray.

"You want to date a loser fine. Then you'll be treated like one as well. Enjoy your Pizza." With that the blond headed cheerleader grasps a handful of Ray's hair and shoves his head down to the freshly melted cheese in front of him. She makes sure to twist his head so that he gets in deep before walking away.

"Jerk!" I look up just as Ray lifts his head out of the Pizza and cover my mouth in shock when Patty slams her palm against his cheek. The sharp sound of skin hitting skin seems to echo as the rest of the people in the room turn to stare at a cheese and tomato sauce covered Ray.

"Are you okay?" I whisper and quickly grab a napkin to start wiping the entire gunk off his face.

"Not yet." He says and catches my wrist before I can get the napkin on his skin.

"What?" I frown when he stands up.

"Anybody else?" he screams and watches as about three other girls walk up to him and either slap him or in the third girls case, kick him where the sun don't shine. He collapses onto the booth bench and sigh before shifting uncomfortably.

"Okay that hurt." He mumbles and sighs.

"Why did you let them do that?" I ask and start to wipe the stuff off his face.

"Why not? I mean for the past sixteen years I've never once in my life taken any relationship seriously. I'm always on and off with pretty much every girl in Mesa High. For once I want to be able to go up to a friend and actually show off a girl without having to worry about who I'll show off the day after. I want one girl to worry about not a couple hundred. I don't want some cheerleader to mess around with. I want a steady girlfriend." He says and takes my free hand.

"That is the deepest thing I've ever heard you say." I mumble and smile slightly.

"Yeah well it's actually the deepest thing I've ever said out loud. So how about it? Will you be my girlfriend?" I feel my hand freeze when he asks that.

"What?" I whispers and frown slightly.

"Stella I'm gonna lie to you. I _really_ like you. And just the thought of not having you around makes me angry. I want to be able to put my arm around you without having to worry who will see. I want you to kiss me even when we aren't alone and not be embarrassed about it. I'm not the jerk I was last year I promise. You said you'd give me a chance. So will you give me that chance while you're my girlfriend?" I stare at him in shock. This is not the Ray Beech I thought I knew.

"You want me to…I mean you want _us_ to be together?" I ask and raise my eyebrows in shock. He chuckles softy before taking both of my hands.

"Will you, Stella Yamada be my girlfriend?" he asks slowly.

"y-yes." I blush when my response comes out in a soft squeak.

He smiles b right and leans over to place his lips on mine. I kiss him back a few times before pulling away.

"What's wrong?" he asks and frowns.

"Nothing, I just need to get home. It's getting late." He sighs and nods before standing up.

"You know this is the second time today that we order a Pizza and we don't even get to eat." He mumbles and pulls me out to the car. I chuckle and get in.

"So I was thinking, you confessed to your friends. It's my turn. The guys and I agreed a few days ago that we'd practice for the Festival tomorrow. Maybe during your lunch break, you can come over and we'll explain?" I ask when he pulls out of the parking lot.

"Alright. Should I wear some kind of protection suit or something? I don't want Wen and Charlie to go all Bog Brother Bear on me." I chuckle at his comment.

"Don't worry I'll make sure they're tamed." He smiles and takes my hand.

RAY:

When I pull into my drive way I notice that the lights are still on but Dad's car is gone.

"Will you be okay?" I look over as Stella opens her door and gets out.

"Yeah. I'll meet you at Charlie's tomorrow." I say and get out as well before letting her take the Driver's seat.

"okay." I bend down and kiss her gently and smile when she pulls me closer.

"Hold on there. Let's save that for when my sister isn't watching us through her bedroom window." I say and smile when she blushes.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She says and starts pulling away.

"I expect to get a good morning kiss tomorrow. I'll be in the book store all day." I say and wink when she rolls her eyes.

"Go to bed Casanova." She says and starts driving away. When I walk inside I feel my eyes widen when I see who's sitting on the couch with a big smile.

"Little Bro!"

Okay so I know this is the shortest chapter so far and I apologize but I had to stop here. The next chapter will probably either be up tomorrow or the day after. Please review! It encourages me to keep writing and makes me want to give you guys more chapters!


	10. More

**I DON'T OWN LEMONADE MOUTH! (oh and let's just pretend More wzas written by Olivia and sung by Stella instead of it being written and sung by Selena Gomez! : D)**

"David what are you doing here?" I ask and frown when I notice the soda cans and candy wrappers that are littering the couch and coffee table.

"It's the middle of summer vacation." He says and turns back to his video game.

"I swear for a nineteen year old you're messier than a pig." I grumble and start picking up his trash.

"Whatever." He grumbles and taps on the controller.

"What is this?" I ask when my hand lands on something gooey and sticky when I set it on the table.

"Oh I accidentally spilled some fudge while making chocolate milk." He says and keeps his eyes glued to the screen.

"Why was a bottle of fudge on Linda's coffee table? Dad spent two grand on this thing!"

"Whoa! Why so much?"

"Just stop making such a mess!" I say and go to grab a rag from the kitchen.

As much as I loved David and his mom they both could not keep anything clean or organized.

"hey." I look over to find Steph sitting at the kitchen table with a tub of ice cream in front of her.

"What are you eating?" I demand and glance at the clock.

"David said I could eat some ice cream."

"You were supposed to be in bed an hour ago! Now you're gonna be on a sugar rush! Clean you face." I mumble and toss her the role of napkins. "Where's Jessica?" I ask and wet the rag.

"David told her to go home early because he would watch me."

"great." I grumble and go back into the living room.

"Hey who was that girl you were talking to outside?" I wipe up the chocolate mess before answering.

"No one you need to worry about." I dump the rag into the sink and walk over to a strawberry faced Steph.

"It was probably that girl he had over yesterday!" she screams as I wipe the ice cream off her face.

"Who's this girl Stephanie is talking about?" I roll my eyes and put the tub of ice cream away.

"She's my girlfriend." I answer and lift the Seven year old girl into my arms.

"Girlfriend? Last time I saw you, you were dating come blond chick. That girl was defiantly not blond."

"I wasn't dating Jules! And yes, Stella is not a blond." With that I start to walk towards the stairs.

"Stella huh? She sounds hot."

"You're a pig." I say and walk into Steph's room.

"So where's dad?"

"He's…out." I place her on her bed and hand her some PJs.

"Business trip?" I turn and notice an evil glint flash across his eyes.

"Yeah…Steph change into these. We'll be downstairs." I say and drag David downstairs.

"You figure it out yet?" he asks and sits down with a smirk.

"He cheats." I say and sit down across from him.

"It's the reason my mom divorced him." He says casually.

"so you knew…how?"

"I walked in on him doing the deed with some collage girl when I was in the eighth grade. He gave me one hundred dollars so that I wouldn't tell anyone. I took the money…and then told mom."

"So this cheating thing had been going on for…a while?" I ask and frown.

"Oh yeah. Dud your dad is a total player…and he's forty something. It's impressive but…nasty. "

"Defiantly nasty…are we gonna have that cook out thing?" I change the subject quickly when I see Steph come down the stairs.

"Yeah, I called dad yesterday night. He said he'll come home early. You should invite…Stella" I roll my eyes at that and sigh.

"I don't think so. You guys will just scare her away. That's the last thing I need."

"Suit yourself. I think she deserves to meet her boyfriend's family."

"Shut up." I mumble before frowning slightly.

STELLA:

"Alright let's start with More." Olivia says and smiles.

"I've been dying to play this one!" I chuckle when Scott smiles happily.

"okay." I mumble and take Olivia's spot as she moves to mine.

"Alright ready?" Charlie asks before hitting his drum sticks together. I wait and smile as thesound of guitars fill my ears.

**I want more, I want more  
>I want more, I want more<strong>

Friday night and we're just talking  
>Stars are crashing in the sky<br>Burning just for you and I

We don't need to over think this  
>Nothing's gonna to bring us down<br>Show them what we're all about

All the way, one hundred one percent  
>Touchdown<br>We're gonna kill it, lead the pack  
>Gonna take this town<p>

Let's go, what you wanna wait for?  
>Let's take everything we ask for<br>Come on and turn it up  
>Let's tell the world we want more, more, more<br>I want more

Let's go, take over the dance floor  
>You be mine and I will be yours<br>Come on and let it play  
>Let me hear you say more, more, more<br>I want more, I want more

Take my hand and pull me closer  
>Whisper nothings in my ear<br>'Til the walls just disappear

Feel the music take you higher  
>Feel my heart beat like a drum<br>Baby, you're the only one

All the way, one hundred one percent  
>Touchdown<br>We're gonna kill it, lead the pack  
>Gonna take this town<p>

Let's go, what you wanna wait for?  
>Let's take everything we ask for<br>Come on and turn it up  
>Let's tell the world we want more, more, more<br>I want more

Let's go, take over the dance floor  
>You be mine and I will be yours<br>Come on and let it play  
>Let me hear you say more, more, more<br>I want more

Come on, everybody, let's go party  
>'Til they kick us out now, I don't care<br>I want more

Once get it started  
>We won't stop until we get it all out<br>Take me there, take me there  
>More, more, more, I want more<p>

Let's go, what you wanna wait for?  
>Let's take everything we ask for<br>Come on and turn it up  
>Let's tell the world we want more, more, more<br>I want more

Let's go, take over the dance floor  
>You be mine and I will be yours<br>Come on and let it play  
>Let me hear you say more, more, more<br>I want more, I want more

"Olivia you've done it again! I don't know about you guys but I think that's our next top seller!" I say and smile.

"Stella that was awesome!" she says happily.

"Uh-oh. Boy friend alert Stell." I frown and turn around to see Ray step out of his car with a smile.

"I can't believe you actually said yes to the guy." Charlie mumbles and sighs.

"Just give him a chance? For me?" I pout at him and he rolls his eyes.

"fine." He mumbles and walks over to me. "But I'm still your older brother."

"whatever." I laugh when he chuckles.

"Hey." I smile up at my Blond headed...person. Yeah I'm not good with the pet names.

"hey." I answer and let him kiss me softly.

"oh gross! That's even worse than Mo and Scott!" I sigh and pull away when Charlie pretends to vomit.

"You're such a baby!" Olivia says and laughs.

"Guys…you've seen ray and Scott you've met him. But I want you guys to see him as my boyfriend. Not as the jerk that almost beat Charlie's face in." I say and smile slightly when Ray wraps his arms around my waist from behind.

"Yeah when a certain red head refused to help me." Charlie says and raises an eyebrow at Wen.

"Hey! I'm a Lover _not_ a Fighter." He yells back and crosses his arms.

"Wow you guys are an odd bunch." I chuckle when Ray whispers into my ear.

"Yeah tell me about it." I respond and look at my friends happily.

"So I heard you singing just now." he mumbles as we watch Scot, Wen and Charlie bicker while Olivia and Mo laugh.

"Yeah? What'd you think of the song?" I answer.

"It was good." He says and kisses my cheek.

"you want something." I say and smile when he sighs in defeat. I could tell by the way he seemed to be buttering me up with kisses that he needed something.

"So last night my older brother got here to spend the rest of the summer with us. Every year he comes we have this cook out and a pool party and everything. It's going to be this Friday. Stella after what I saw last night I don't think I'll be able to go through Friday without exploding. So I was wondering if you'd come. It'll be a good way for you to meet my family and at the same time if something goes wrong you can hold me back from hurting either my brother or Dad." He whispers.

"You want me to meet your family and protect you at the same time on Friday?" I ask and look up at him.

"That's an easy way to say it, but yes basically."

"I'd love to." I say and chuckle softly when he resumes kissing my neck and cheek softly.

"you're the best."

"I know."

"Ray and Stella sitting in a tree!" I roll my eyes but blush when the rest of the guys join into Wen's teasing.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Is there some kind of ritual that I have to go through in order to be considered their friend? I mean Wen had to confess he likes Olivia on national TV, Scott had to work his butt off for months in order to gain Mo's trust…what do I have to do?" I smile up at him.

"You have to prove your worthy of being a part of the Lemonade Romance Group." I chuckle when Olivia speaks up.

"How do I do that?" Ray asks and smiles.

"You'll figure it out soon enough." Scott says and smirks.

"Should I be scared?" he mumbles and looks down at me.

"Terrified actually." I say and grin. He rolls his eyes and sighs.

"Oh boy." He mumbles and pecks my lips again.

"you can't keep your mouth off her can you?" I feel my face become a bright red when Charlie speaks.

"Charlie!" Mo and Olivia look at him in surprise.

"What? It's true! I mean look at them!" for the first time I notice that since he got here Ray's been pressing his lips to every part of me that he can reach.

"What can I say? It's an addiction I don't want to break." He says and smirks.

"Gross" Scott mumbles.

"Alright we barely started practice and we're already off topic! Ray you've been a cute entertainer now if you would please exit the garage we would be grateful. Mo and I will make sure she calls you bye bye now!" with that Wen drags Ray out of the garage gently by the collar of his jacket. **(He's wearing the one he wore in the spit take scene!)**

"You guys are so cute together!" I smile when Mo speaks up.

MO:

I can't believe he didn't hear us! We barged right into his room! He doesn't know what I saw, he doesn't look guilty, and he couldn't care less that he cheated on me! He's a jerk. And the part that hurts the most is that we walked in on him losing his virginity to her. That blond headed bimbo!

"Mo!" I look up see Charlie waving one of his drum sticks in my face.

"What?" I ask and frown.

"You ready to start?" he asks and raises an eyebrow.

Although I'll never admit it to anyone, I have a small crush on Charlie. He's sweet and understanding and cute. Sure he isn't hot like Scott or some of the other Mesa High soccer players but he's still cute and huggable.

"yeah." I answer and get ready to start playing.

What would things be like if I had given him a chance? I mean I know he would never cheat on a girl. And he was raised to respect women. He's protective of his friends and is always there when I need him. Why _didn't_ I give I give him a chance? Oh that's right I was still crushing on the jerk.

"Mo!" I blink in surprise when his face appears in front of mine.

"What?" I ask.

"Are you okay?" he asks and places his hand on my cheek gently

"I'm fine why?" I say and place my hand over his with a frown.

"We called you a bunch of times and you wouldn't answer."

Looking around I notice that everyone is frowning at us.

"Oh…sorry I was lost in thought." I say and sigh.

"I need to talk to you after practice okay?" he whispers softly so that only I can hear. I nod and let him walk back to his drum kit.

CHARLIE:

There was something wrong. I knew that much, and I desperately wanted to know why and what. After practice I wait for everyone of leave before walking over to Mo.

"What's wrong?" I ask her and frown.

"What do you mean?" she asks and crosses her arms.

"Don't play dumb. I know you and whenever you act like this, there's something wrong." I say.

"Charlie…"

"Please just tell me?"

"Fine…" he mumbles and sighs.

**Okay I know that the last part was not Rayella but I had to start writing Charlie and Mo because I felt like I would explode if I didn't! Please review! I know I was a little late in posting but at least I posted!**


	11. Mesa Day

**I DON'T OWN LEMONADE MOUTH! Okay so I liked writing this chapter! I hope you guys like it! I know that I have a lot of errors in my chapters but if I don't edit it, you guys get a chapter pretty much every day. So which would you rather have? One perfect chapter a week or chapters with a few errors here and there? I think you guys will get one more chapter before I leave for vacation. But like I said I'll be sure to type up more stuff! : D**

CHARLIE:

"Charlie…if I tell you will you swear not to go on a rampage?" he says and gently takes my hand before pulling me to the love seat in the corner of the garage.

"I swear." I answer and let her pull me down.

"okay. Last night Olivia and I went over to Scott's house because it was our six month anniversary. But when I stepped into his room I found him doing something."

"What was he doing?" I ask and start playing with her manicured fingers.

"He was…cheating." She mumbles and pulls her hand away gently.

"He was what?" I frown and look into her sad eyes.

"He was in bed with Jules."

"In bed as in…"

"You get the picture."

"And you haven't said anything have you?" I have to clutch the arm of the couch just to not stand up and drive to that jerks house and give him a piece of my mind.

"I want to think of a way to get back at him." She says and quickly grabs both my hands when I hear a pop as the wood of the arm crunches under my grip.

"I'll help you. A devious plan is already hatching." I say and put on my best 'Ray' smirk as she calls it.

"You have an evil glint in your eye. Spill; what are you thinking?" she asks and smiles.

"He cheated on you…but why not lead him on until oh say the Halloween bash. You dress up in a cute costume and BAM! You break up with him and strut away." I say and laugh evilly.

"Stella is rubbing off on all of us." She says and laughs softly before hugging my waist.

"Mo?" I say and wrap my arm loosely around her shoulder to return the hug.

"Charlie I have to tell you something."

"So do I."

"Okay you first." She says and looks up at me.

"You know that I'll be here whenever you need me right? I know you'll never return the feeling that I have for you but even if you don't I'll be right here." I say and kiss her forehead.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Charlie I was stupid for rejecting you all those months ago. And if you still really like me then I'd like to give us a chance." She says and smiles when I stare at her.

"Seriously?" I say and chuckle softly.

"Does this answer your question?" with that she gently pressed her lips to mine and pull back when I don't respond.

"Please tell me this isn't a daydream." I mumble and smile widely.

"You're so weird sometimes." She laughs and leans against my side.

"So you like me back?" I ask.

"Yes. So what do you say? Give me a chance?" she pulls herself up onto her knees so that she's slightly taller than me.

"I'd really like to." I say and pull her down so she's sitting on my lap.

"You're really different. You're not like him."

"I'd hope not." I say and lean up to catch her lips in mine.

MO:

He act different, talks different, his kisses are so sweet instead of forced and icky.

"Charlie?" I sigh and pull back when I hear his mom call him from inside.

"Yeah mom?" he calls out when I'm off of him.

"Oh, I didn't know you still had a friend over." She says when she sees me next to him.

"It's fine. I was just leaving." I say and stand up with a small smile.

"oh, okay. Charlie I need you to go to the store for Me." she says and talks softly to him.

"Okay. I'll be back." He answers and sighs when she walks back inside.

"Mo I'll drive you home." He says when I start walking away.

"Are you sure? I can walk if it's a problem." I say and look over at him.

"I'm positive. Come on." He smiles widely and opens the passenger door to the car.

RAY:

Walking into the house was a disaster. As soon as the door closed behind me I wanted to just walk out.

"What's going on?" I scream as loudly as I can.

"Hey Bro!" I look over to see David talking to a bunch of people his age.

"What did you do?" I scream and push my way to them,

"It's just a little…social gathering." He says and shrugs.

"There's got to be at least two hundred people in here!" I look around and see a whole bunch of girls in swim suits and shirtless guys.

"Relax! Dad won't find out."

"Where' Steph?"

"In her room!"

"Did you lock all of the bedroom doors?" The music is so loud I can barely hear his response but by the confused look on his face I can already tell he didn't.

"You're an idiot!" I scream and run upstairs. "get out of my way!" I have to push my way upstairs and into my room.

"Hey!" I hear one of them shout when I push past them.

"Alright out!" I scream when I see a couple on my bed. They both wave me off and continue sucking face. "Alright fine. I can play this game too." With that I grab my hockey stick and whack the guy's lower back. "Get out!" I scream angrily when e looks up.

"Come on Ty let's go." the girl says and quickly pull him out of the room.

I lock my door after grabbing the master key and walk out. the waking goes on through every room until I reach Steph's room.

"Steph?" I freeze when I see what's going on in the room. Stephanie's curled up in a corner while her bed is being occupied by a girl and two guys.

"What is wrong with you collage kids?" I scream and whack the closest guy.

"Ow! What?" he look up and I whack him again.

"Get out!" I scream.

"Ignore the kid." I hear the girl say and pull him back down to start kissing him again.

"Disgusting people! Get out!" again I whack the guy but this time I don't stop. I keep hiutting him and the other one until they're scrambling to get out. They leave the girl on the bed and I roll my eyes when she sighs and sits up.

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen! Now get out before I whack you too." I say and pull her up quickly before pushing her out as gently as I can.

"Steph are you okay?" I walk over after closing and locking the door.

"That was funny." I chuckle and when she giggles and mimics me hitting the people with a stick.

"You're weird. Stay here, I'll be right back." I say and get out quickly.

_30 minutes later._

I slip in the CD quickly and crank it up as loud as I can.

"The cops are here!" I scream when the sound of sirens blasts out of the speakers.

"Everybody run!" someone yells and they all scatter like ants.

"Not you stupid!" I grab David's arm before he can run past me. he's drunk and starts pulling away when I grab him.

"Let me go! I don't want to get arrested!" he screams and pulls free before dropping to the floor.

"Put your hands up! We have the house surrounded!" I laugh when a loud voice booms out of the speakers and everyone runs faster.

"Run!" I scream and sigh happily when the last person runs out the back door.

"I'm innocent!" I roll my eyes when David screams out by my feet.

"You are going to have a massive hangover buddy." I say and walk away.

_The next morning._

I walked downstairs to hear groaning.

"Good morning!" I cream when I walk into the kitchen.

"Shut up!" he growls and glares at me.

"It's your fault for drinking." I say and pour some cereal into a bowl.

"What happened anyway?" he asks and rubs his forehead.

"it was awesome!" I say and smirk.

"What'd you do?" he asks and sighs.

"I downloaded the sound of a police squad surrounding a house. I played it loudly and everyone scattered." I explain and finish my cereal.

"Cool. I'm going to bed." He says and walks out of the kitchen.

"I'm going to work!" I scream and chuckle when he groans loudly.

STELLA:

"Good morning." I smile when he grins widely.

"Why are you so happy?" I ask and sit on the counter.

"Last night was fun." He says and chuckles before taking out his phone.

"What did you do?" I ask as he presses buttons.

"Check it out. I videotaped everything." He says and hands me the phone. I chuckled as I watched the events.

"You crashed a collage party?" I ask and hand him back the phone after the video finishes.

"Yup. And it was a lot of fun. Now my apparently 'responsible' older brother has a massive hangover." He says and shoves the phone into his pocket.

"So I was thinking about Friday." I say and blush.

"Yeah? You didn't change your mind about coming did you?" he asks in a panicked voice.

"No! I was just thinking about what it'll be like." I say and take his hand to stop his panic attack.

"Just be yourself Stella. If they like you great, if not then it's their problem not ours."

"But I want them to like me."

"Linda will love you I'm sure of it. David and Steph don't really care who I date…" he trails off and sighs.

"But your dad is another story." I mumble.

"He's very judgmental. I mean we're talking about the guy that thinks all soccer players should have a cheerleader as a girl friend and that all jocks should just be handed a scholarship. He's the guy that thinks Jules is the perfect girl for me. The guy that changed completely as soon as my mom was gone." He says angrily.

"Ray calm down." I say when his fist closes around a pencil so tight it snaps with a pop.

"sorry." He says and tosses the pencil into the trashcan by his feet.

"so what should I dress in?" I ask.

"Just be yourself Stella. If you want to come in a T-shirt and shorts come in that. If you want to go all out and wear a sundress go for it. The main idea is that you don't come dressed and acting like someone you aren't. I'm going to wear a T-shirt and swim trunks. I don't know about you but I'm gonna be in the pool."

"You want me to be myself. All the way?"

"Defiantly."

"Okay. I'll see you later." I say and kiss his cheek before getting up.

"hey when's your family going back to town?"

"we're supposed to be home by Sunday." I answer and smile.

"cool. I'll see you later." With that I walk away.

RAY:

"Oh my! Will you look at the date! What could possibly be coming up?" I roll my eyes at Marks horrible acting.

" who knows." I say and slip into my normal clothes.

"dude."

"I know what's coming up. What about it?"

"It's Mesa Day! The most important holiday next to Christmas for couples. What are you gonna get Stella?"

"I thought Mesa Day was a day to celebrate the day Mesa High was opened."

"Ray."

"okay okay, I know what it's for."

"every year girls put their boyfriends to the test on July 24th. I swear whatever girl thought of that must have been evil." He mumbles and ties his shoes.

"Whatever. I think it's cool. Like a Pre-Valentine's day. It gets you ready for the actual thing. What are you getting Maggie?"

"I'm going to take her to the philharmonic." He says and smiles.

"I haven't thought about what I'll get Stella."

"You said she plays music right?"

"Yes."

"Why not get her that John McLaughlin autographed Guitar that Bobby's selling?"

"Bobby? As in the guy that owns the pawn shop?" I frown when he nods.

"Do you think he can re string it so that it can be played by a left handed person?" I ask.

"He'll charge you extra…"

"I'll check it out." I answer and shove my socks onto my feet.

"You gonna get her Lilly's?"

"I'm gonna be spending as much money as I can. I mean a dozen Lilly's are going to cost about…thirty something dollars. I don't want to get her just a dozen though. I'm gonna go all out for her." With that I close the door to my locker and walk out of the men's locker room.

"You might want to order them now!" he calls after me.

_Later that night._

I couldn't stop glancing at the case that lay across the row of seats behind me in the car. I had ordered two hundred Lily's along with bows for every single one. Three dozen of them came in vases and they were scheduled to be delivered at her house and set up in her room while we were out at the beach on Mesa Day. And not only was Stella going to get the flowers, she was also getting a guitar and an entire day at the beech complete with a picnic. I was proud of myself for getting all this planned in one day. I wasn't happy with the bill but I was looking forwards to Stella's reaction.

As soon as I got home I ran up to my room with the guitar inside its case.

"Ray?" David calls out when he sees me run past him.

"What?" I mumble.

"What's that?" he calls out.

"Nothing!" I scream back and lock the door.

The glossy guitar is a glossy dark blue that looks light in the sun but black in the shade. The strings are brand new and it's perfectly tuned. The sharpie autograph isn't really noticeable but when the guitar looks this nice that doesn't really matter.

After digging through my closet I finally find some wrapping paper and tape. As quickly as I can I wrap it up and make it look nice before placing it under my bed. Both Stephanie and David are snoopy but neither one of them would ever think to look under my bed.

I hear my phone buzz and quickly answer it.

"I need your help." I frown slightly.

"Who it this?"

"It's Charlie."


	12. Disrespect

**It feels so good to be back in Florida! And it feels even better to update this story. I DON'T OWN LMONADE MOUTH sadly: (**

RAY:

Walking into the library at nine PM isn't a very nice thing to experience. The lights are dim; the librarians are nowhere to be found, and the only sounds are those of pages turning and light footsteps on the shabby carpet.

"Ray." I jump when the silence is interrupted by the sound of Charlie's whisper.

"God. Charlie out of all the places in this town you had to pick the creepiest one of all?" I hiss and let him lead us towards one of the many tables in the back of the room.

"Sorry. It was either this or the gas station. Frankly I don't think that a parking lot that smells like gasoline is a very good place to have a conversation." He snaps back and sits down.

"Okay so what's going on?" I say and cross my arms.

"I already told you. I need your help."

"Yeah I got that part. What I'm trying to ask is, with what?"

"I need to get a girl a gift. Something that will show her I really care but…I don't have any experience with girls." I stare at him for a second before sighing.

"This couldn't wait until morning?" I whisper yell.

"I'm nervous okay? Just tell me." he says and frowns.

"Don't raise your voice at me!"

"Shh!" I glare at the lady that frowns at us.

"Shh! Yourself." I snap back.

"Ray calm down." I feel a hand land on my arm and look up to see a wide eyed Charlie.

"If I help you can I leave?" I ask and run a hand through my hair.

"Yeah sure why not?" he mumbles and removes his hand.

"Fine. Get her a dozen Lily's and a bottle of perfume you think smells good. Wrap the bottle in shiny wrapping paper; put the lily's in a red vase and you've got yourself the perfect gift. Can I go now?" I say quickly and glance at the lady that's glaring full force at me.

"Slow down. Say that again." He says and stares at me.

"Bro seriously? Perfume and flowers. That's it." I say and stand up.

"Thanks I guess." He mumbles and stands up too.

"Charlie?" I say when I notice he's frowning at the table like it's grown a pair of lips and eyes.

"Yeah?" he answers and looks up at me.

"You okay?" I ask and follow him towards the doors.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"I'll see ya around." I say and walk to my car when we walk out of the library.

STELLA:

This week passed by quickly. I haven't seen Ray all week due to us coming home from the resort, crazy practice schedule, him having late shifts at work, and since soccer season starts pretty much as soon as we get into school Scott and Ray have started training early.

"Stella? Are you almost done?" I sigh at the sound of Timmy's voice before responding.

"Yeah. Just a few more minutes!"

"You said that an hour ago!" with that he stomps off.

I hear my phone ring and look down at the screen to see a Text from Mo.

_You ready for tonight?_

I frown down at the sentence before answering.

What do you mean?

_Didn't ray tell you? He invited Scott and me to meet his brother._

Nope. Guess I'll see you tonight though : - )

_Yup. C U soon._

Wait!

_Wat?_

Navy blue or forest green?

_For who?_

Me.

_Navy Blue._

Thanks!

With that I slip on a Navy shirt along with matching converse. I took Ray's advice and decided on going as myself. A homemade T-Shirt, a pair of black jean shorts, and converse; underneath I was wearing my Navy Blue two piece swim suit. The words 'Cords are mightier than the pen.' Flash back at me as I stare at my reflection.

"Stella! Sweetie Ray's here!" I walk out when I hear my mom call up.

"Okay! I'll be right down!" I call back and grab a towel along with my bag.

"So, Stella tells me you play soccer?" I quicken my pace when I hear my mother trying to make conversation with him.

"Uh…yeah. I'm a Forward." He answers politely.

"I thought Stella hated jocks." Timmy says. I can practically hear the smirk on his face.

"Timmy!" my mom scolds as I walk down the stairs.

"Well it's true!" he defends and crosses his arms.

"Keep talking and watch what'll happen Timmy!" I warn and walk over Ray. He smiles and bends down to peck my cheek.

"Oh…aren't you two just adorable!" my cheeks turn a bright red at my mom's comment.

"Well. We should get going." He mumbles.

"Yeah. I'll be back later mom." She nods with a smile and watches as we walk out the door.

"That was…interesting." He says and smiles widely as we get into his car.

"Sorry she's just never actually gotten to meet any of my dates. I usually just meet them outside. She gets really exited easily."

"I didn't say I didn't like it. I mean usually my date's moms treat me like trash." He says as we pull out of my drive way.

"Really?" I look at him with shock.

"Jule's mom told me to wait on the porch because she had more important people in the house when I went to pick her up for the Halloween bash last year." He says and glances at me.

"That's awful." I mumble and take his hand.

"Yeah. So I see you didn't go crazy with the clothes." He smiles at my shirt and I chuckle.

"Yeah I took your advice." I mumble.

"I agree with the saying." He says and turns onto his street.

"I came up with it myself." I say proudly and he chuckles softly.

"Well it's very clever." He says and stops in front of his house…or mansion. "Come on." He says and gets out. He waits for me in front of the car and then takes my hand to lead me into the house.

"Dad? David? Linda?" he calls out and sighs when no one answers. "Come on, I still have to change and I'd rather you not be alone in a room with them." He says and starts pulling me up the stairs.

"Why not?" I ask and let him tug my gently.

"Let's just say they're all very…different from you. Linda'll kill you with love, Dad with burn a hole through your back with his glares, and David…well if you stay in a room with him too long your IQ drops quickly." I chuckle and sit on his bed when we walk into his room.

"I'll be right back." He says and walks out. I wait for him to close the door before I stand up and walk to the cork board by his computer. It had immediately caught my eye as soon as I walk in.

The words 'Raymond Beech Growing Up' are plastered on top with foam letters. The board is completely covered in photos. The one in the top left corner shows a small boy around three years old. He's scrawny but has a big smile on his face. He's next to a brown haired man that's holding two ice cream cones happily.

Below it is a picture of the same boy only a bit older. His face is painted blue and has two lines running down his face; one white and one gold. His mouth is flashing a big smile; a smile so big that his eyes are only small lines above his cheek bones.

Next to it is a picture that shows the boy around Nine years old. He's pouting with his arms cross across his chest. His eyebrows are pulled down and his lips are pursed slightly. I chuckle softly at the image and move onto the next picture.

This one if of him only a few years ago. He has a bit of baby fat but not much. His eyes are starring right into the camera with a serious expression. His eyes show nothing but seriousness even though behind him there's a laughing brown haired boy.

"I was twelve when dad took that picture." I jump at the sound of Ray's voice.

"You scared me." I say and look up at him.

"sorry." He says and looks at the pictures.

"Who's that?" I ask and point to a pretty woman with light brown hair and a big smile.

"That's my mom." He whispers and smiles slightly at the woman.

"She was pregnant. With you." I say when I notice the small bulge on her stomach.

"Yeah. She was four months pregnant." He mumbles and sighs.

"You look a bit like her. You're eyes…and your smile." I say and lean into him slightly.

"Everyone says I'm a spitting image of my father though." He answers and wraps an arm loosely around my waist.

"Him?" I ask and point to the man that was holding the cones.

"Yeah…we should get downstairs Stella." He says and smiles slightly before starting to pull me away from the board.

"Mo says you invited her and Scott to meet your brother." I say and follow him downstairs.

"Yeah I told you that didn't i?" he says and stops in the living room.

"No…" I answer and look up at him. He frowns deeply at my answer.

"I remember telling you though." He mumbles.

"You didn't. Its fine, I mean we haven't seen each other all week you probably meant to and forgot." I say and cup his cheeks gently when his frown doesn't go away.

"I'm sorry. Come on, David hasn't shut up about wanting to meet you since he found out who you were." With that his smile returns and he takes my hand gently.

When we reach the backyard I have to pause for a moment and take it all in. nothing is the same as when I had been year only days before. There are a few balloons taped to the lawn chairs and the door has a big 'Welcome Home' sign on it.

"Dad." I feel Ray start to tug on my arm when I don't move and quickly snap out of my frozen state.

"Raymond." I look at the blond haired man and raise an eyebrow. He's hunched over the grill, refusing to meet his son's eyes.

"Dad this is Stella; my girlfriend." I can tell my the way Ray is frozen solid that he's annoyed at his father's reaction.

"I thought you were dating Juliana." He mumbles and flips burger patty.

" her name was Julie and we broke up three months ago dad. You were there when it happened." Ray says through clenched teeth.

"Um…it's nice to meet you Mr. Beech." I hold out my right hand and watch as he glances at me before giving me the once over.

"pleasure." He mumbles but doesn't shake my hand so I let it drop to my side and sigh.

"Dad? Please don't do this." Ray says softly. So softly that I can barely hear him.

"Fine…Bella what sport do you play?" he says and finally looks up.

"It's Stella and I don't play sports. I'm a musician." I say and bite my tongue to keep my smart remarks in.

"_Stella_ is a Guitarist. She's in that band that Steph likes. Lemonade Mouth." Ray says and drops my hand before wrapping his arm around my waist.

"Ah yes. You know Raymond maybe if you took your talent seriously you would be as successful as this Lemonade Head band instead of being just a local bunch of teenagers that play at warehouses." His father says.

"Mudslide Crush actually is very respected at Mesa High." I defend and frown slightly.

"Is that so? Well I remember this conversation being for me and my son…I suggest you stay out of it." He snaps back.

"Don't talk to her like that! Dad you always do this. I can never please you can I?" with that Ray walks away angrily.

"Always so dramatic." His father mumbles and goes back to his cooking. I stare at him for a second before walking in the direction Ray had gone.

"Ray?" I find him on the front porch sitting on the swing with his head down.

"If you don't want to stay I don't blame you." He mumbles and doesn't look up.

"I promised you I'd be here to keep you from getting furious." I sit next to him and place my hand in his.

"You know he's never come to a game. Or a show, or any of my award ceremonies." He says and squeezes my hand.

"That's not good. But Ray even if he doesn't know what a good and talented person you are…you still have your friends." I say.

"Friends? What friends? Scott was the only person that knew anything about me. All the others are just hanging around waiting for me to slip up. I was so content on staying on top my entire life. It seemed like the only way to get my father to even glance at me." He mumbles and I watch a tear slips out of his eyes and down his cheek.

"Have you ever been happy? Truly happy?" I ask and wipe away the tear.

"The only time I actually ever smile is when I'm with you or Scott. " he mumbles.

"well then we have to change that. Come on." I say and stand up.

"what?" he asks and frown up at me.

"go change into normal clothes. Hurry up." I say and pull him up.

"what are we doing?"

"I am going to show you what it's like to be a lemon head." I answer and push him gently into his house.

"Stella you don't have to do this."

"But I want to." I pull him into his room and sit him on the bed. "Where do you keep your clothes?" I ask and cross my arms. He points to the closet and dresser.

"What are doing?" he asks when I start looking through his closet.

"Here, put this on." I toss him a yellow T-shirt and some jeans.

"okay." He sighs and walks out.

RAY:

When I come back in, she's sitting on my bed typing away on her phone. With a smirk I walk up to her quietly and catch her shoulders easily.

"hey." I whisper after pushing her down onto her back gently.

"You really need to start making noise when you enter a room." She gasps when I lower my head so my lips play with the skin under her ear.

"But I like making you blush." I answer and let my lips brush against the sensitive skin with every word.

"Well I don't like the feeling of my blood shooting into my face." She says and lets one of her hands rest on the back of my neck.

"Well that's too bad." I chuckles when goose bumps appear on her shoulder and arms.

"Ray?"

"Hm?" I'm too busy letting my fingers trace patterns on the exposed skin on her waist to pay much attention.

"Look at me." she whispers into my ear softly. I obey and smile widely when her lips meet mine as soon as my lips leave her skin.

"You…are very…" I try to get a sentence out between kisses but by the time I'm about to finish I forget what I was going to say and just kiss her.

"We should go. I told the others we'd meet them at Dante's." she says as my lips trail down her jaw.

"did you tell Mo and Scott?" I mumble.

"Yes. Now come on." I sigh and get off of her reluctantly.

"When am I gonna get to have you all to myself?" I mumble and stand up.

"Soon I hope." She answers and kisses me before pulling me out of my room.

"So what are we going to do anyway?" I ask when we reach my car.

"First you have to go through your annunciation. "She says and chuckles when I frown.

"What do I have to do?" I ask and get into the car.

"Oh you'll see."

**Okay so that was written during the eight hours it took to drive out of Florida. I love it here, it's my home state but it's a pain to get out. I was listening to music the entire 26 hours it took to get from Naples to Lufkin. The main songs the I was listening to while this chapter was written where Numb (piano version), what I've done (piano version), in the end (piano version, More, Fences, The Meadow, and Ignorance. : ) please Review!**


	13. Driving Without Looking

**I do not own LEMONADE MOUTH**

RAY:

I watch as Stella is pulled from my arms and put into a group hug.

"Stella! Mo and I have to tell you something!"

"Stella, Wen won't stop hiding my drum sticks!"

"Stella, Charlie moved my mic now I can't find it!"

"Stella are you listening?"

"Hey! One at a time!" she screams and sighs when they all stop whining.

"sorry." They mumble and sit back down. She pulls me down into the chair next to hers before facing her band mates.

"Okay, Olivia what were trying to tell me?" she asks and turns to look at the blond.

"It can wait." She glances at me before turning her head down to the table.

"Okay, if you say so. Charlie, Wen isn't hiding your drumsticks Scott is. And they're hidden in Mo's case. Scott, he put it in the drawer where he keeps his drum sticks. And Wen I didn't catch what you were saying." She says and waits for a response.

"I asked about the new song. You only sang the first few words and we want to try to play it at the Festival." He says and smiles widely as an extra large cheese pizza is placed at the middle of our table.

"I'll bring the song in tomorrow. Now can we please forget all the stressing stuff and have fun?" she says and takes a slice from the silver platter.

"The sounds good."

"Yeah."

"Can we please?"

She smiles widely when they all mumble a response.

"So…shall we do the usual Friday night fun activities?" Charlie asks and takes a slice

"Yeah!" Wen and Scott both say with wide smiles.

"You three are going down!" Stella says and points at the three of them with a smirk.

"In your dreams!" Charlie snaps back and shoves the slice into his mouth.

"Is he gonna eat or just stare at us as if we're crazy?" Wen asks and frowns at me.

"sorry." I mumble and grab a slice of pizza.

"Just relax Ray. Be yourself." I hear Stella's voice by my ear and nod slightly.

"S-so, Ray. We haven't heard from you in a while… what are you up to?" Olivia asks softly.

"I've been working six days a week, training seven days a week, and stressing about everything wrong in my life." I mumble and smile slightly when they all stare at me.

"Is he serious?" Wen whispers.

"I…think so." Scott whispers back.

"You guys." Stella hits Wen's shoulder softly and rolls her eyes.

"Sorry, it's just…I thought rich kids just tanned all summer and did nothing." Wen says and shrugs.

"And what makes you think I'm rich?" I ask and raise an eyebrow.

"Dude ever since you got your license you've been driving a different car every other month! I mean first it was a Porche, then it was a scion, then a jeep, and now you have a Volvo! What's next?" Charlie mumbles though his mouthful of Pizza.

"Gross! Chew, swallow, then talk Charlie." Olivia says and laughs when Charlie almost chokes when he tries to talk again.

"So, should we do the Lazertag first or the batting cages first?" Stella asks.

"I want to do the batting cages." Scott says before anyone else can answer.

"I wanted to do Lazertag first." Olivia mumbles.

"But you and Stella always win! It's either Stella catching you off guard or you getting stella while in hiding." Mo mumbles and pouts slightly.

"Well why don't we head down to the Arcade and play some mini golf?" I ask when Scott and Wen start to argue.

"Yeah. We haven't done that yet." Stella says and quickly keeps the two from actually getting into a fight.

" Ray you always win at Mini golf!" Scott looks at me with a smirk.

"I'll go easy on you guys if you want." I say and shrug.

"So? What do you guys say? Mini golf?" Charlie asks and finishes his third slice of Pizza.

"I say we try it." Olivia smiles and actually looks up at me.

"It's worth a shot." Wen nods slightly and blushes when Olivia turns her bright smile on him.

"Sound fun." Mo agrees and looks at Scott.

"Sure why not?" he says and pecks her lips softly. I notice her shoulders stiffen and Charlie's hand tightens around his plastic cup.

"Let's do it." Stella smiles and doesn't notice what happened between the three and by the looks of it neither did Olivia or Wen.

"Alright. I'm done how about you guys?" Charlie mumbles and turns away from the currently kissing couple.

"Yup." Wen and Olivia smile and blush when they both answer at the same time and I have to hold back a smile.

"Oh um…yeah." Mo pulls away and runs a shaky hand through her hair.

"mm-hm." Scott says with a smile.

"Ray?" I look down to see Stella frowning slightly. "you okay?"

"Um…yeah. I'm…I'm fine." I mumble and push my half eaten slice of Pizza away.

"Dude you barely ate anything are you sure you're done?" Wen asks and frowns.

"He doesn't eat much. We have to keep our Calorie count under control if we want to be ready for soccer season and Ray takes the whole Calorie diet seriously." Scott explains and I nod with a forced smile. Something wasn't right between him and Mo and although he couldn't see it, I could.

"Alright. Let's get going." Stella says happily.

They all stand at the exact same time and take one last sip of the lemonade in their cups before smiling. Everything is done perfectly and at the exact same time. It's as if they're all wired to be in perfect harmony with each other even though each is different from all the others in the group.

"come on." Stella takes my hand and pulls me out and towards the parking lot.

"We'll meet you guys there." Scott calls out before he and Mo get into his car.

"Same here." Charlie waits until Wen and Olivia get into his car before driving away.

"So, you haven't talked much. Are you sure you're okay?" I open Stella's door and sigh.

"I just don't feel like I belong." I mumble.

"That's ridiculous. They like you; they're just surprised that you actually have a nice side. I mean we've never really seen you be nice and actually smile before." She says and closes the door before stepping in front o me and leaning back against the car.

"You know Scott has been my best friend since the fourth grade. And not once before had I seen him actually smile until he joined Lemonade Mouth. " I say and let my body lean onto hers slightly.

"Maybe you should smile too then." Her small hand runs through my hair gently before is moves down to cup my cheek.

"We should get going." I say and lean forward slightly. Her lips curve up into a smile as she leans in and closes the small space between us.

"You're right." she mumbles and starts pulling away. I let one hand plant its self on the metal beside her waist while the other lands on her waist and pulls her closer.

"Maybe, but I'm not done yet." I mumble back and deepen the kiss slightly.

"We have to go Ray." She whispers halfheartedly as her arms circle around my neck.

"Get a room!" I pull back to the sound of Jule's voice cutting through the sound of our breathing.

"Let's go." I say and sigh.

"We always get interrupted huh?" she smiles and pecks my lips softly before getting into the car.

"yup." I grumble and walk around to get into the car.

STELLA:

We play a game of 'I Spy' while we drive to the arcade. When Ray pulls into the parking space next to Scott's truck.

"Hey did you guys see Charlie on your way here?" Mo asks when we're all out of our vehicles.

"I thought he was right behind you." Ray frowns.

That's when we here it. A screeching of tires and just as we all turn to see what all the noise is about I spot Charlie's Ford Fiesta. What I see next plays in slow motion and I'm frozen afterewards.

CHARLIE:

It's not fair. The sounds of Olivia giggling along with Wen's chuckling in the backseat are both causing jealousy and annoyance. Through the rearview mirror I can see Olivia leaning into Wen innocently while he plays with a loose strand of hair.

"Charlie!"

My eyes snap back to the road and I only have time to gasp before I'm blinded by head lights. I hear a sickening crunch and feel a sharp pressure on my face. After that I hear a scream before everything goes black.

**This was written while I was in my hotel room when I was in Harlingen. My family and I were driving towards Mexico and right before we reach that little Checkpoint the car in front of us slams into one of the pillars. It was scary and cool at the same time. I mean I saw the glass explode in slow motion it was so weird! And frankly I think there needs to be some drama in this story. : ) so please review!**


	14. Crash and Burn

I DO NOT OWN LEMONADE MOUTH!

RAY:

The sound of crunching metal echo's through the parking lot and street loudly as we watch the windows of Charlie's car explode.

"Charlie!" I'm snapped out of my frozen state to the sound of Mo's scream.

"Olivia." Stella gasps and clutches my hand in a vice tight grip.

"Oh god no…Wen!" Scott whispers. Then after a few seconds they all break into a run towards the car and the Pick Up Truck it had slammed into.

"Wait!" I scream and follow close behind. "Stella hold on!" none of them slow down or look back at me. I quicken my pace and finally catch up to Scott.

"Call an ambulance!" he shouts as we skid to a stop in front of the car.

"already on it." I mumble and pull out my phone.

STELLA:

The crunch of glass under my feet is enough to bring tears to my eyes. There's so much glass and just the thought that they could have some of it piercing their bodies terrifies me. the sound of Ray mumbling shakily into the phone is distant as I make my way closer to the car.

"Stella no. we have to wait until the paramedics get here." Scotts hand catch my arm gently and pulls me back to where Ray and Mo and standing.

"Yes…yes…please hurry." Ray finally shoves his phone back into his pocket and opens his arms slightly. I launch myself into his embrace and sob into his chest. Although I can't see any of my friends I somehow know that the effects of the crach are not going to be good.

"It's okay Stella. Everything is going to be okay." He whispers and runs a trembling hand through my hair.

"Oh god…no this can't be happening." I hear my voice ring in my ears but don't remember opening my mouth to speak.

"I can hear the sirens." Mo mumbles and sniffles. I can hear them too. And just a few seconds later the bright lights shine across our faces and the truck pulls up a few feet away.

"What happened? were any of you in the car?" one of runs to us while the other two rush to the car.

"No but they're our friends." Scott says and gently pulls away from Mo to explain.

"Mo." I open my arm for her and she curls herself into me quickly. Now Ray, Mo and I are on a group hug and by the sound of Ray's ragged breathing I think he's crying like Mo and I.

" Guys, we should get to the hospital." Scott returns with tear stained cheeks.

"what did they say? Did you see them?" Mo pulls away and walks over to Scott.

"I saw Charlie being pulled out of the car but other than him I dond;t see anyone else. They said that if we want to see them we should get to the hospital." He explains and starts tugging her back towards the parking lot.

"Come on." I nod when Ray whispers softly and let him take my hand as he starts walking back to his car.

RAY:

Three hours. We've been waiting in the waiting room for three hours!

"Dude you have to calm down." Scott mumbles sadly and places a tired hand on my knee to try to stop its bouncing.

"It's been three hours it shouldn't take this long!" I hiss and run my hands through my hair.

"Just calm down. The doctor will come in here any second and tell us that they're all okay." He mumbles and sighs.

"You don't believe that and you know it." I say and look at him.

"Don't tell that to Mo. She's terrified and I don't want to scare her even more.

"But you don't believe it!" I hiss.

"No okay I don't. I think that at least one of them is going to be in bad condition." He mumbles.

"Ray?" I look up to see Stella holding out a foam cup.

"What is it?" I take it carefully and sigh.

"Hot Chocolate." She mumbles. I pull her down onto my lap and lay my head on her shoulder.

"You okay?" she whispers and moves my hair from my eyes.

"Just tired." I yawn to prove my point and take a sip of the Liquid chocolate.

"I don't blame you. It's past midnight." She mumbles and keeps running a hand through my hair as if she's petting a cat.

"If you keep doing that I'm gonna fall asleep." I mumble as my eyes start to droop.

"sorry." She mumbles and lets her hand rest on the back of my head.

"Um, are you here to see Charles, Olivia and Wendal?" we all look up and nod at the man with a clip board in his hands.

"Yes." Scott stands up and we all follow him out of the small waiting room.

" Wendal and Olivia are both fine. Just a few cuts and bruises, nothing a few stitches didn't fix." The man explains and leads us towards a room. "Charles on the other hand…well he's in very bad shape." He opens a door and I freeze at the sight.

"Oh my gosh." Mo gasps and covers her mouth with her hand.

"He has a broken arm, two broken ribs, quite a few cuts on his face and arms, and a lot of bruises. Everything will heal eventually though. Yes there will be a few scares here and there but for the most part, he'll be perfectly fine in about two months." The doctor walks in and Mo immediately rushes over to Charlie's side along with Stella.

"He's asleep." Stella mumbles when they get to his side.

"yes, he should be awake in a few minutes. I'm afraid you won't be able to stay long though. Visiting hours ended at ten O' clock and it's after midnight. When he wakes up, greet him stay for a few minutes and them please leave him to rest. Olivia and Wendal are both in room 1-109 if you want to see them.

"Thank you." I say as he walks out.

"Would you guys mind staying here for a bit while we go check on Olivia and Wen? I don't think Charlie should be alone if he wakes up." Stella mumbles and walks towards me.

"No problem." I say and smiles slightly when she kisses me.

"Thanks." With that, She and Mo walk out.

"Dude you are so Whipped!" Scott chuckles and walk over to Charlie.

"Am not." I grumble and follow him.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

STELLA:

"So, how are things going with you and Ray?" I have to look away to hide the bright blush that covers my cheeks.

"They're moving along pretty quickly." I mumble.

"You know…he's really starting to like you Stella. Scott says that whenever they go for their morning run he's always talking about you…and not in a bad way. It looked like you really like him too when we were in the waiting room." She says and walks towards the elevator.

"That's crazy. I'm not falling for Ray Beech." I mumble.

"Why not? I mean he's actually nice." She pushes the button and the elevator doors open slowly.

"He isn't my type." I lie and walk into the small space.

"What do you mean he isn't your type? He's perfect for you!"

"Can we please drop the subject?" I ask when I feel my throat tighten and start to find it hard to swallow.

"Okay, sorry for bringing it up." The doors open again and we walk out silently.

"What would happen if…I did fall for him?" I whisper as we walk.

"Well then that's your choice. If you wanted to stay with him then you can and if you don't then…it's your choice Stella. But we're not going to force you. Why are you starting to fall for him?"

"It was just a question Mo." I force a smile and look at the door numbers.

"Oh…okay." She sighs and points to a door. "There it is." I nod and we start walking over.

MO:

She's so stubborn! Everyone can see that she's falling for him, and he's falling for her!

"Olivia? Wen?" she opens the door and walks in.

"Over here." Wen croaks out and sighs. We walk over to the two hospital beds to find a sleeping Olivia and a bruised Wen.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" I ask.

"Sore. But I'll make it. How's Charlie?"

"Bad…really bad." Stella whispers and sighs.

"God…I don't even know what happened! one second we're driving smoothly and the next there's a car in front of us and Charlie is driving full speed towards it!" he mumbles and sighs.

"Maybe he was distracted." I defend and sigh when they look at me with frowns.

"Mo is there something we should know? You and Charlie have been acting weird all week." Stella says and raises an eyebrow.

"Yes…and no." I mumble and sit in the chair beside Wen's hospital bed.

" what's going on?" Wen asks.

I took a deep breath and got ready to tell two of my best friends what was going on in my always secretive life.

RAY:

The room was silent for a few minutes. The only sounds were of the heart monitor that kept going _Beep…Beep…Beep. _

"So…I just can't get over the fact that you, Raymond Beech, are whipped." I roll my eyes and sigh as Scott goes into a rant about how I've never taken anything seriously until my relationship with Stella.

"Mmng." Charlie stirs and sighs in his bed before opening his eyes lazily.

"Charlie?" I mumble and watch as he winces slightly.

"Don't scream!" he groans and winces again.

"How're you feeling?" Scott whispers.

"Like an elephant is sitting on my chest." He mumbles. "where are the others?"

"Wen and Olivia are in another room, Stella and Mo are paying them a visit." I say and look up when the door opens and closes.

"Charlie! You're awake." Stella's smile if forced as she walks over to Charlie's bed side with Mo.

"are you okay?" I whisper softly when she's close enough.

"I'm fine." She nods and sighs.

"Hey." We both look over to see Charlie gripping Mo's hand as if his life depended on it.

"hey." She answers. A tear slips from her eye.

Call me crazy but now I know there's something wrong. That look in Mo's eyes is something more than just pain for a friend. And the way Charlie stiffens whenever Mo and Scott touch. And most importantly, the way Stella's eyes shoot from Charlie and Mo to Scott.

"Excuse me?" we turn to see a nurse standing at the door.

"Sorry to interrupt but you kids have to go." she says softly and smiles apologetically .

"We'll be right out." I mumble and motion for Scott to start pretending to leave. He nods and starts to walk towards the door. the nurse leaves when she sees him and he stopps at th end of Charlie's bed.

"We'll come visit you soon all right Charlie?" he says and smiles slightly when Charlie tries to chuckle.

"I'll be fine you guys. Go, you need to get some rest." With that we all start to head to the door.

"I'll be right out." Mo mumbles and smiles slightly. We nod and close the door behind us.

STELLA:

"Oh, wait. I left my keys in his room." I turn to keep Ray patting his pockets with a frown.

"I'll wait here." I mumble as he starts to turn back around.

"Everything's going to be okay Stella." He says before jogging towards Charlie's room.

RAY:

I freeze when I get to Charlie's room. The door hadn't squeaked when I opened it so my presence wasn't noticed. Maybe that's why Charlie and Mo didn't pull away from their lip-locked state.

"A-hem!" I clear my throat in shock and watch as they jump away from each other in shock.

"Ray." Mo gasps and looks at me in shock.

"What is going on!" I whisper yell when I see a nurse frowning at me from across the hall.

"You can't tell anyone!" Charlie tries to sit up but gasps and collapses back into the pillows.

"Explain at least!" I watch Mo help him settle into the pillows again and sigh when they look at me with guilt.

"You have to swear not to tell anyone first." Mo says as I shut the door behind me.

"How can I not tell my best friend that his girlfriend is cheating on him?" I hiss and stare at them wide eyed.

"He cheated first!" Charlie defends.

"Don't you get it? Nothing happened between them last year! It was just a way to get Mo upset!"

"No! Olivia and I caught him with Jules for real." Mo mumbles.

"What are you talking about?" I ask and frown.

"He was in bed with her." Charlie grumbles.

"Like I said before explain!" with that Mo sighs and looks down at Charlie.

"I think we should." He says.

"So do I." I say as I grab my car keys quickly before returning my gaze to them.

"okay…here's what happened…"

**now I want to post another Pole. Please vote!**

**What should my next Lemonade Mouth story be about?**

** memories on how Ray and Stella grew up together. (in this story, Stella moved in when she was around eight.) The memories would go from her first day in town up to a special memory I can't tell you about yet…**

**.Reznik forces Lemonade Mouth and Mudslide Crush to write and Perform a play where only the members of their band can participate as a punishment after both bands are involved in a food fight. Stella and Ray are forced to write the play alone and work together to get Principal Brandigan to like it or be banned from playing at any and all school happenings.**

**. just give me an idea if you have one but you don't want to write it or you don't know where to start! : )**


	15. Punches

STELLA:

It took longer than I expected for him to finally come back. His face was pale and he was starring off into space but when he reached me he forced on a smile and jingled the keys.

"Got 'em." He mumbles and walks past me in a rush.

"Are you okay?" I have to speed walk just to keep up with him.

"I'm fine, hey have you seen Scott I have…something to give him." He mumbles and presses the button for the elevator doors to open.

"He said he'd wait in the parking lot." When we walk in I sigh in frustration and grab the keys he hasn't stopped jingling.

"What's going on?" I ask and watch as he shifts uncomfortably under my gaze.

"nothing." With that I shove the keys into my pocket and grab his shaking hands.

"You can trust me." I say. He looks down at our hands and sighs.

"I know…but this is something that I have to do and I know that if I tell you you'll try to stop me." he takes a deep breath and pulls us out of the small space when we come to a stop.

"What do you have to do?" I ask and frown.

"You'll see." When we get out of the hospital he slows his steps and we walk at a normal speed towards the pavilion where we had parked the cars.

"Scott!" he calls out when we reach the mostly empty parking lot.

Scott is leaning against the side of Ray's car with his head bowed slightly. His lips move rapidly as if he's mumbling but when he hears us his head snaps up.

"This is for being an ungrateful jackass." With that I gasp as I watch Ray pull back his fist and let it snap forward to catch Scott's nose sharply.

"Ray!" I catch his fist before he can let it go and pull him away from the bleeding boy.

"Let me go Stella." I push him farther away as he tries to break out of my hold.

"What are you doing?" I try to catch his eyes but they're content on glaring at Scott as his body tries to break out of my hold.

"Let me go!" he growls and tries to push my hands away.

"Look at me ray!" with that I let my hand sweep across his cheek and hold my breath when that loud smack echo's loudly.

"Listen to me Stella! He deserves more than just a wimpy little punch!" even the slapping doesn't shock him out of his furious state and he keeps trying to break free. I push him against one of the pillars and press his shoulder back.

"Ray!" I scream and try to hold my tears back.

"Let me go Stella!"

"Why are you trying to hurt him?" at this his thrashing stops and he looks down at me.

"Oh like you don't know. He Cheated on your best friend with Jules and you're not going to do anything?" he screams and shoots a glare at Scott.

"This isn't our fight Ray! Mo has to settle this not me and certainly not you." With that he finally calms down enough to stop trying to break free.

"Stella you're my girlfriend, she's your best friend. She's hurt that means he hurt you too. Just let me go." he says and looks down at me seriously. I find absolutely no emotion in his blue eyes. All I see is blank blue orbs.

"Ray please. Let's just get home. Please?" I whisper and cup his cheeks as a tear slips down my cheek. The sight my crying seems to be enough for him to snap back from his furious state. His shaking hand comes up and wipes the tear away.

"Ray please." I whispers and let my hands drop. He looks up to Scott's figure that's still moaning in pain.

"Get in the car before I change my mind about leaving him alone." He mumbles and clenches his fists as we walk past Scott and towards his car.

"Ray get in the car." I say sternly when his eyes stare down at his best friend with anger. He obeys and opens his car door roughly before practically throwing himself into the seat. As soon as my door closes he's speeding out of the pavilion and onto the road. The entire way to my house his eyes stare straight ahead. One hand grips the steering wheel while the other grips the joy stick.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" I mumble when he pulls up to my drive way.

"yeah." He mumbles and doesn't meet my eyes.

"Ray?" I place my hand over his right one and gently pry his fingers off of the stick.

"Stella please. If you stay too long I'll lash out just go…please just go." he growls out angrily before his voice softens slightly at the last words.

"I'll see you tomorrow Ray." I say and leans over to kiss his cheek softly. When I reach my door I take one last glance at him. He's starring down at the wheel with dark eyes. I sigh and walk into my house just as he pulls out and speeds away.

RAY:

I can feel my chest burning. The anger that's building up inside is trying to claw its way out but I keep it in. when I walk through the front door I'm not surprised to find my father sitting in his recliner with only a lamp on as he stares at the front door.

"Where have you been? It's almost three A.M." he growls and stands up.

"out." I mumble and head to the stairs.

"Raymond that isn't an answer. Answer correctly." I feel his hand grab my shoulder and I shrug it off roughly.

"I was out. Okay? I was out with my girlfriend Stella and her friends. Then we had to go to the hospital. Was that answering enough for you? Just leave me alone." I scream and look up to the top of the stairs when I see a light flicker on.

"What's wrong with Ray-Ray?" I wince slightly at the sound of a whimpering Stephanie.

"Nothing sweetie, he's just a bit upset." I hear her mother whisper softly.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that Raymond." I turn back to face my furious father.

"Just leave me alone." I growl and start walking up the stairs only to be yanked down by the collar of my shirt. I land on my butt after slamming into a wall.

"what did you just say to me?" he hisses. I glance over at the coffee table and sure enough I see a glass and a few bottles of different liquors. Some empty, others half full. He was drunk…again.

"you're drunk dad." I say and stand up. He chuckles before shaking his head. "that wasn't what you said."

"Go to bed." I mumble and walk over to the table to start tossing out the empty bottles. Even though I couldn't stand my father, he was still the only thing I had left to remind me of my mother. If I had to deal with him for a few hours a day just to hear a few stories about my mom once in a while I would deal with it.

"What are you doing? Don't touch that!" he growls and knocks the three bottles I had picked up out of my hands. They crash onto the floor and explode.

"Dad just go to bed." I say through clenched teeth as I bend down to pick up the glass. Suddenly I hear a growl before I'm being pushes down onto the pile of sharp glass.

"Don't you dare talk back to me like that. You ungrateful little brat." He slurs out and sways on his feet slightly. I feel stinging on my right cheek but ignore it as I finish picking up the glass.

"I…I'm sorry." I mutter when he looks down at me expectantly. I had learned long ago that when my father yells when he's drunk it's best to just go along with whatever it is he's screaming about.

"That's right you better be. Pick this mess up. I pay for this house to stay clean and you act like a pig. Only get this house dirty." With that he stumbles out of the room and up the stairs. After picking up the glass and putting away the liquor I go into the bath room to inspect the stinging that hadn't stopped. When I turn the lights on I see a gash going from my cheekbone to a few centimeters from my bottom lip. I quickly clean up the bit of blood and sigh in relief when I see it's nothing more than a rather deep scratch. I wouldn't need stitches; in fact it would probably scab over by sun rise.

After cleaning my face up, slipping into my sleep clothes, and turning off all the unneeded lights, I start top walk back up to my room only to slam into David at he top of the stairs.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" I mumble and start to walk around him.

"I hear you two." He says and catches my arm. "Why do you deal with it Ray?" he asks and frowns.

"He's my dad, I don't have much of a choice." I say and pull away.

"I'm just trying to help." He mutters.

"You'd be helping a lot more if you just stay out of it." I answer and walk towards my bedroom. Just when I'm about to turn the knob to my door I see a dim light coming out of Steph's room; her night light. For an eight year old he's extremely annoying but truthfully she's just a little girl that's afraid.

"Steph?" I whisper as I walk into her room. The lime green walls look creepy with a dim blue light shining on them along with the multiple Barbies she keeps on her book shelves.

"Ray?" she stirs and sits up as her small fists rub against her tired eyes.

"hey." I sit next to her and watch as she yawns, rubs her head, and then looks up at me.

"why were you mad?" she mumbles softly and leans against my arm to keep herself up.

"I was just upset with Scott." I say and wrap my arm around her small figure.

"Then why was daddy mad at you?" she asks and frowns.

Although Steph had only known my father for a short while, it didn't take much to get her to call him daddy. I would too if I were her. I mean you're born, you live four happy years as an only child with your two parents, and then out of nowhere your dad runs away and your mom loses her job. Then out of nowhere at all a man comes by and takes you and your mom to a big house where you find a brother along with a mountain of new toys. My father was like an angel to her. and although I was mean to the unfortunate I would not burst Stephanie's little happy bubble just to make myself content.

"i…I didn't listen to him and I was a bad boy." I say an sigh when she nods.

"I don't think you're a bad boy Ray. I think you're like a bean bag. When you leave it alone it's all mushy, but when you try to use it stands up for itself and becomes hard." She smiles slightly and snuggles closer into my side.

"I leak beans?" I frown slightly but she's already asleep. "Goodnight Steph." I whisper as I lay her down and tuck her in.

"Good night ray." I smile when I hear her mumble just as I walk out of her room.

As soon as I get into my room I turn on my lamp and grab a notebook from my desk. It was nights like this that wrote songs. Although most of them would never be performed by Mudslide Crush, it was nice to get all my anger and frustration out with a first line comes easly and pretty soon I'm filling up the page.

_THE NEXT MORNING._

When I open my eyes I find myself sprawled out on the floor with my notebook on my chest and my pencil by my foot. There's no sunlight yet but when I look at my clock I groan. Time to get up for work. As quickly as I can, I shower and get ready. by the time I'm pulling out of my driveway I either have to speed and risk getting a ticket or go with the law and then get fired. As soon and I got onto the road my speedometer was at seventy MPH.

LATER ON…

"Mr. Beech. another fifteen seconds and you would have lost your job."

I sigh in relief and place my employee card back into its slot.

"You're needed as a pool assistant today." Mr. Miller says as he flips through his clip board.

"Yes Sir." I say and walk away. When I reach the locker rooms I scramble to get into my khaki pants and Red Polo shirt. Even though we were working by the pool in ninety degree weather, the pool boy uniform consisted of pants and a shirt who's sleeves reached my elbows.

After slipping on my tennis shoes I run to the snack shack where all the life guards, Pool boys/Girls, towel boys, and snack shack employees have to wait. When I get into line I see the door to the pool open; I'm just in time. Pretty soon the pool is filled with people and I'm being sent back and forth.

When Work finally ends it's almost midnight. After my full shift as a pool boy, Miller had me do a shift at the Café, then a shift at the library! I drag my feet as I walk to my car which just happened to be parked in a far corner…fifty yards from where I was. My legs were burning, my eyes were drooping, and I just wanted to collapse. When I reach the spot where I had parked my car I groan. The slot was empty.

"You were looking for this?" I turn and sigh in relief at the sight of Stella leaning against my car. Okay to I was about ten yards away from where I actually parked my car. I could make it over there without fainting…I hope.

"Did you even get any sleep?" she asks and opens my door for me.

"About an hour and a half." I mumble and collapse into the seat.

"Wow…and you came to work?" she asks.

"It's either work my but off…or no collage. No collage means I work for my dad. I'd rather work every day for the rest of my life than to do that." I say and lean back against the soft chair.

"What does your dad do?"

"Are you serious" I frown and look up at her.

"Yeah." She says and nods. I sigh and turn the car on.

"How'd you get here?" I ask.

"The bus." I smile slightly and motion for her to get in. she does and chuckles when I lean over to palce my head tiredly on her shoulder.

"Okay, there'll be time for that later, right now I have to show you something." I say and drive towards town. When we reach a plaza and pull up into a parking space and point to one of the signs.

"What?" she asks and frowns.

"What does it say?" I ask and keep pointing.

"Jojo's Beauty supply." She says and frowns.

"Alright now read the bottom."

"Beech Enterprises…oh." she says and blushes.

"Yeah. My father owns over half of the businesses in this town. And those that he doesn't own he's working on buying them. My whole life my father has been obsessed over owning everything. I don't want to become like him and frankly this just doesn't interest me." I say and look at all the stores. Every single one has the word Beech somewhere. On some it was actually in the store's name while on others it was hidden somewhere on its' sign.

"so what do you want to do then?" she asks and takes my hand.

"I'm being offered a soccer scholarship…but I want to become an algebra teacher." I feel my face become hot at my confession. I had never told anyone what I wanted to do with my future.

"really?" she asks and smiles.

"yeah…what do you want to be?" I ask and look over at her.

"a principal. I want to go to a school like ours and just change things. I want to make sure everyone gets an equal chance instead of being ignored." She says and looks out at the stars.

"Stella?" I mumble softly.

"hmm?"

"I'm sorry about yesterday," I say and watch as her small smile disappears and she turns to look at me.

"What came over you Ray?" she whispers.

"I don't know…I just couldn't stand it. I mean he spends his entire freshman year pinning over Mo and then he's stupid enough to go and cheat on her. a girl that loves a guy that much shouldn't be so stupid." I say and frown.

"You need to calm down Ray." I can tell there's a small smile in her face and that's enough to calm me a bit.

"You're right." I say and sigh.

"Why don't we go to the docks?" she asks and squeezes my hand. I nod and start driving.

STELLA:

When we reach the beach we don't walk onto the dock. Instead we lie on the hood of his car and stare up at the stars.

"There's Orion's belt." She says and points to three stars.

"mm-hm." I say and lean closer into his side. His arm is tightly wound around my shoulders as he tries to keep me from getting cold. It was summer and yet the temperature was freezing!

"Are you paying attention?" he asks and looks down t me with a small smile.

"I'm trying." I say and chuckle softly.

"Come on. I have an idea."

Today he had borrowed his father's Scion. I watch as he pushes the back seat forward before gitting in and holding his hand out to me.

"What are you doing?" I ask and frown.

"Just trust me Stella." He says and smiles. I smile back and get into the car. As soon as the door closes behind me he lays us dawn so that our heads are towards the back window.

"Now your warm and we can still watch the stars." He says and pulls me to his side.

"Very smart." I say and look up at the small dots in the sky.

"Thank you." He whispers. we point at the starms a say their names for the next hour. Then we walk about nothing in particular. He tells me about what collage he wants to go to, what school he'd like to teach at, he even tells me that he might accept the soccer scholarship and study algebra at the same time.

In return I tell him my plans for my future. Before long my eyes are starting to droop. He doesn't notice as he talks happily about how he imagines his future and then I fall asleep just as he starts talking about moving to Florida after he turns thirty.

RAY:

I'm so caught up in my talking that it takes me a bit to notice Stella's asleep. Her head lays on my chest while her right arm is wraps around my waist, this arm is bent slight so that her hand is over my heart. Her peaceful mind is too adorable to disrupt and I find myself debating whether or not to wake her up. I suddenly feel the forcefulness of my exhaustion as my eyes droop down. A few minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt right? Just enough to allow me some energy. I let my eyes closed and my mind is wiped clean as I fall asleep.

Okay I know I've taken FOREVER to update and I honestly don't have a very good reason other than writing my next LM story. It's up and already has two long chapters it's called Do You Remember. The flashback story won because it got the most votes. I will be writing the other one I just need to finish one of these first. : ) please review and please read Do You Remember? It's mostly Rayella or Stray as I've seen some people use.


	16. I Don't Share

Sun shines brightly against my eyes and when i open them, i find myself sprawled out beside a muscular body. when i look up i find Ray's peaceful face laying limply against his arm. his eyes are closed and his mouth slightly open. soft snores escape his lips whenever he breathes in.

"Ray." i whisper and shake his shoulder gently. he stirs and frowns before grumbling under his breath and going back to sleep.

i roll my eyes and get onto my knees. he fees my shadow on my face and his eyes flutter open.

"Am i in heaven?" he mumbles as he rubs the sleep out of his eyes.

"No, dummy. wake up, we have to get home." i chuckle and lay down to place my head on his chest.

"do we have to?" he asks and wraps an arm around me.

"Yes."

"what day is it?"

"Sunday."

"Crud." he groans and covers his eyes with his free hand.

"What?"

"Summer Bonfire's tonight." he sighs and turns his body to bury his face in the crook of my neck.

"what's that?" i ask with a chuckle.

"it's when the soccer team brings their girlfriends to the beach for this party thing. it's a way to see who's off limits for the first few months of school. the single guys show up just to make sure they don;t get themselves into trouble."

"how barbaric." i tease and chuckle when he blushes brightly."

"Come with me?" he pleads into my ear.

"why should i? just a bunch of snotty girls waiting to give me their glares."

"not all of them are like that. and i want them all to meet you. i want you to be there for me."

"i'll always be there for you Ray."

"then come."

"...alright." i sigh reluctantly and smile when he chuckles in triumph before kissing me softly.

"Let's get home." he sighs. i nod and sit up. we both move back to our seats and Ray sighs again as he drives back towards town.

RAY POV:

when i get home, no one's awake yet. i trudge up to my room and collapse on my bed. sleep almost immediately pulls me under.

_I'm sitting in the middle of a soccer field. the white painted lines are bright and fresh. the smell of freshly cut grass fills my nostrils and i take a deep breath to take it all in. A brand new soccer ball sits on my lap and i lift up to eye level for inspection._

_"Beautiful isn't it? so bright...so new. no flaws." i look up in shock to find a tall girl. she's wearing a white blouse with lace designs on her sleeves and chest. her jeans are a stark black and her high heels dig into the grass. the girl's hair is pulled back into a tight pony tail. not a single hair out of place and her eyes shine a confident Green._

_"Who are you?" i find myself asking._

_"Blanca." she smiles kindly and sighs. "it starts off so pure...and then it goes through torture...sometimes without realizing." i look down and frown as i watch scruff marks, dirt, and other stains start to mark up the once clean ball. i drop it onto the ground and find that it's completely covered in bad marks._

_"what..happened to it?"_

_"it was played with..." she mumbles sadly. "you must make your choice Raymond...you can't have both worlds." with that, her figure shimmers and she's gone in the blink of an eye._

_"Ray!" i turn and smile when i see Stella standing in front of one of the Goal's. she's clad in my jersey, a big smile on her face. beside her, her guitar case lays silently._

_"Beech!" i turn again to find the team waving me over with frowns. "Come on man, we're supposed to go to Dante's remember?"_

_"Ray we have rehearsals today." Stella shouts with a sigh._

_"Beech!"_

_"Ray!" my hear turns form one to the other quickly._

_suddenly i feel a sting on my arm. I clutch my wrist to find my skin tearing. in place of my once flawless skin is now covers with either ugly scars or scabs._

_"Ray!" another sting forms a long scar across my forearm._

_"Beech!" a scab forms along my wrist._

_"Ray!" the voices become faint and i find the world spinning before i collapse and hit my head against the soft grass. pain tears at my chest and slowly crawls to my stomach and then chest. my name fills the air and i start screaming as the pain intensifies with every passing second._

_eventually it becomes too much and i eagerly welcome unconsciousness._

_the painless peace doesn't last long though. I'm suddenly yanked back and i find myself standing in the middle of the cafeteria._

_"You're nothing to me Stella!" i turn in shock and find a clone of myself screaming at a crying Stella. "you were just a play thing." the clone smirks._

_"No." i whisper and walk over in shock._

_"no...you're lying." Stella gasps and sniffles._

_"you actually believe a guy like me could love a girl as hideous as you?" the clone asks in shock before laughing harshly. "don;t be so pathetic." suddenly Jules walks up to the clone's side and wraps an arm around his waist. the Clone smiles confidently before leaning down to kiss the blond._

_"No!" i scream and step forward. when my hand tries to connect with my clone however, it goes straight through his arm. i turn to find Stella crippled on the floor sobbing. "No stella. please." i kneel and try to touch her face but my fingers dissolve and she continues to cry. the familiar darkness starts to flood my vision and i trash and fight against it in attempts to try and comfort Stella. but it pulls me in despite my attempts._

_when light finally appears, i find myself in a stuffy room filled with crying people. I'm dressed in a black and white Tux, a simple rose in my left hand and a tissue in my right. i pass the people who are sobbing and frown when i find Wen and Olivia, along with Charlie and Mo crying silently near the front of the room._

_"She committed suicide." Mo sobs into Charlie's chest._

_"It's all his fault." Olivia whispers through the tears. i turn towards where Wen is staring to find a glossy casket._

_"No." i whisper and rush over. i gasp at the sight._

_laid out on the thick white pillows, Stella lays with her hands on her stomach and her eyes closed. she's not breathing and her skin a sickly pale. i feel the tears staining my eyes and watch as a droplet falls form my face and gently hits her cheek. i reach up and wipe my face with the tissue before collapsing onto my knees._

_i drop the rose to the floor and watch as the blood red petals wither before turning to dust._

_"Mister?" i look up in shock to find myself standing in the middle of a familiar room._

_"Stella?" i recognize the small girl as stella at a much younger age. her eyes and smile are still the same. her hair is much longer and her eyes are a soft brown._

_"how do you know my name?" she asks in surprise._

_"Stella." i gasps and hug her close to my chest. she yelps in surprise before chuckling and lifting her hand to my head. her tiny fingers run through my hair gently._

_"you shouldn't cry Mister." she chastises gently._

_"Stella." i whisper. the darkness starts closing in again and i gasps. "No." i gasp._

_"You're really cute yo know that?" Stella whispers._

that's the last thing i hear before I bolt up into a sitting position. I'm back in my room and I'm drenched in sweat. i take deep breathes and look around my room. for the first time in years, i notice the way i have it decorated. i've never really payed much attention to it but now i realize that... it's filled with pictures of my past nothing is of the present. i pick up on of the frames on my bed side table and stare down at a younger version of me and my parents. we're smiling happily, a Mickey mouse hat perched on my head.

my mom's hugging me to her side tightly and my father is mid laugh. my hands are outstretched to show the big castle behind us.

"you were four." i look up to find my dad smiling sadly.

"how long have you been there?" i ask in shock.

"just a few seconds." he responds.

"i remember this day, it's the day Mom let me go on Splash Mountain and i freaked out right before the last drop...she told me to close my eyes and pretend i was flying." i whisper.

"you screamed...like a girl." my dad whispers. we both chuckle and i place the photo back on my table.

"Daddy?" i look up to find Steph standing behind my father. she's wearing a sun dress. her light curls are ties into pig tails and her eyes shine brightly with happiness. "are you ready?" she asks giddily.

"yeah." my dad smiles down at her and nods at me before leaving. my door shuts behind them and i lay back down with a huff.

after an hour of laying in bed, i finally stand up and head towards the shower. i spend as much time as i can under the water before it turns cold and i have to get out.

i walk into my room in nothing but my towel with a sigh. not bothering to check my phone, i turn to my dresser and pull out a change of clothes.

"Ahem." i jump and turn just as I'm about to drop the towel.

"what are you doing in here?" i ask as my eyes fall on a familiar blond.

"I just wanted to talk to you." Jules says innocently as she stands and stalks over to me. "your brother let me in." her fingers curl around my bicep and she sqeezes roughly.

"get out." i say and rip myself from her grasp. she pouts her thickly glossed lips and sits at my bed.

"Come on Ray, we both know you don't want her."

"you're wrong."

"right." she scoffs and lays down.

"Jules I'm serious get out." i say and quickly pull on a pair of boxers while she's not looking.

"why can't we just get back to the way it was? you know...when you'd sneak me in through the back door and...we'd have fun." she giggles and walks over to me, pinning me to the wall.

"that wasn't fun Jules...i was desperate back then now I'm not. just leave me alone." i growl out and sigh.

"Ray, you're brother-" i look up to find Stella standing in the doorway.

"Stella." i gasp and watch her slowly close the door behind her.

"what's going on?" she asks cautiously.

"it's not what it look like..." i begin.

"you don't have to lie to her Ray." Jules purrs and runs her fingers over my cheek. "tell her how you want me back."

"Stella she's lying."

"Ray..." Stella sighs and sits down on my bed.

"Stella?" i whisper as she inspects her nails in a bored manner.

she suddenly stands and glares at Jules.

"i suggest that unless you want that pretty face of yours to be bruised and busted...you get out." Jules lets out a squeak of surprise before hurrying out.

i sigh in relief and walk over to her. before i can get close enough however she places a hand on my chest and glares up at me.

"let's get one thing straight Beech... i don't share. never have, never will. so if i ever see her or anyone else around you like that again...i won;t stick around to find the truth. got it." with every sentence she pokes my chest roughly.

"yup." i choke out and sigh in relief when she smiles brightly and hugs my waist.

**Okay so really sorry about the LONG wait. you guys should thank DramaQueen127 for getting me to write again. i can;t wait to read our guy's comments on this. i know it's not all that good but i'm proud of it! so don't forget to leave a review! i'll be updating as fast as i can, I'm really into super-heroes right now so i'm writing about Young Justice mostly. if any of you watch the show please tell me! it comes back on saturday! yay!**

**anyway...review!**


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